The home debut was as a successful as the road opener for Fairfield University head women's basketball coach Joe Frager, just a little more exciting.  The Stags improved to 2-0 with a 58-56 win over visiting Sacred Heart University, 0-4, at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

Stags point guard Megan Caskin hit her second three-pointer of the game, with 44 seconds to play, and the shot clock winding down, to break a 54-54 tie and propel the Stags to the win.  The junior's first basket of the night had come only 3:12 earlier, again with the shot clock winding down; to push the Stags lead to four points, 52-48.  Kaitlin Sowinski would make a lay-up for Sacred Heart with 19 seconds to play, and after five fouls to get the Stags the bonus, Stephanie Geehan made 1-2 free throws, with a second remaining to give Fairfield the win.

The Stags got off to another hot start, jumping out to a 7-2 lead Baendu Lowenthal hit her first two shots, sandwiched around three-pointer by Lauren Groom, in the first 2:37.  The Pioneers cut the deficit to only three points at the 10:59 mark on a three-pointer by Lisa Moray, 14-11.  Fairfield would answer with a 10-2 run over the next 3:40 to push ahead by 11, 26-15, the largest lead of the game for either team.  After the team's traded baskets over the next minutes, Lowenthal knocked down a jumper with 2:12 in the half, to make it 34-23, the halftime score.

The Pioneers did not go quietly however, scoring the first six points of the second half, and opening the period with a 11-2 run, to close to within two points, 36-34 with 15:16 to play. A conventional three-point play from Tara Flaherty pushed the lad to five (39-34) with 13:15 to play, however Moray hit another of her five three-pointers 41 seconds later to get back within two points.

The lead would never get larger than six points the rest of the way, with the Stags going up 47-41 with 7:11 to play.  Sacred Heart scored the next five points, on a Stephanie Ryan lay-up and a three-point play by Sowinski.  Lowenthal made the lead three again, (49-46; 5:03) but her basket was answered by Khalia Cain with 4:27 to play, to set up the three-point heroics of Caskin.

Lowenthal once again led the Stags, netting 14 points, on 7-15 shootings.  She also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass.  Geehan was the other Stag in double-figures, shooting 5-9 from the field for 11 points.  She added eight rebounds, a team-high three assists and three blocked shots.  Caskin had seven rebounds and two assists in the game as well.  Tara Flaherty went 3-3 from the field and 2-3 at the line for eight points in 10 minutes of action off of the bench.

Sowinski led all scorers with 24 points, hitting on 10-16 from the field.  She had six blocked shots and five rebounds.  Moray finished with 15 points, while Ryan led the Pioneers with nine rebounds.

The Stags shot well from the field again, hitting 25-59, 42.4 percent, but were just 4-16 from behind the arc.  The Pioneers shot 40.7 percent from the field, 22-54, going 6-14 from downtown.  Both teams went to the line just seven times, with Fairfield converting four chances, and Sacred Heart, six.

The Stags out rebounded the visitor 37-32, including 18-14 on the offensive glass.  The Stags forced 18 turnovers, while committing 16.  Fairfield had 13 assists, six steals and three blocked shots.  Sacred Heart had 15 assists, seven blocked shots and seven steals.

Fairfield begins a four-game road swing on Tuesday, when it travels to Harvard for a 7 p.m. contest.  The Stags will than fly west, to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to play in the Beach Classic hosted by Cal-Poly.  Fairfield will take on the host Friday at 5 p.m., and meet North Dakota State on Saturday, also at 5 p.m.