The Fairfield University women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 58-57 decision to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) host Canisius College on Thursday afternoon.  The loss drops the Stags to 10-5 on the year and 0-4 in conference action, while the Griffs improve to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the MAAC.

The Stags led 54-46 with 5:01 to play, after breaking the games 10^th tie with an 8-0 run over 2:36 of action, capped by a three-pointer from Sabra Wrice.  Megan Caskin made a driving lay-up with 1:54 to play to make the score 57-50, but missed the free throw and the Stags would not score again in the game.

Canisius cut the lead to four points, 57-53 with 1:13 to play as Brittane Russell converted a traditional three-point play. Ellie Radke made a jumper with 40 seconds to play, and the score was 57-55.  A missed three-point attempt led to a Stags foul, with 21 seconds to play, but Russell missed both to keep the score the same, but the rebound went out of bounds to the Griffs.  Canisius missed three shots in the paint once they in bounded the ball again, but corralled each rebound, the last by Radke, who put it home as she was fouled, a shot she made, to give the Griffs the one-point win.

The Stags had three players score in double digits in the game, led by the 16 points of Wrice.  Stephanie Geehan had a double-double in the game, with 11 points and 10 rebounds, eight of each coming in the second half.  Baendu Lowenthal finished the game with 10 points, all in the first half, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Fairfield shot 41.8 percent from the field for the game, hitting 23-55, including six three-pointers, but only went to the line nine times, going 5-9 at the stripe.  Canisius shot 31 percent from the field for the game, hitting 18-58, but had 19 offensive rebounds in the victory.  The Griffs were only slight better at the line, but went more often, hitting 17-26.  The Stags had 19 assists in the win and 17 turnovers, while forcing 17 Griff turnovers.

The Stags jumped out to an early lead as Baendu Lowenthal scored the team's first six points, to open a three point advantage, 6-3, 2:27 into the game.  The Stags would maintain an advantage until the 11:43 mark of the first half when the Griffs took their first lead, 13-11.  Canisius increased its lead to as many as six points, 19-13 (7:46), but the Stags battled back. 

Tied at 23-23, Wrice hit a three-pointer off the dribble as the shot clock expired, to give the Stags a three-point lead with 2:23 left in the half.  Tara Flaherty put the lead back to three-points with a jumper in the paint with 20 seconds left in the half to give the Stags a 30-28 halftime lead.

Fairfield scored first in the second half to take a four-point lead, 32-28.  They held Canisius scoreless for the first three minutes of the half, before a 4-0 knotted the score 32-32 with 16:25 to play.  Lauren Groom broke the tie with a three-pointer, and Wrice knocked down a jumper on the next possession for the 37-32 advantage, but the Griffs answered with a 7-0 run to retake the lead, 39-37.  Tara Flaherty snapped the Stags scoreless streak, and tied the game, with a lay-up with 12:00 to play. 

Flaherty finished the game with six points and five boards, shooting 2-3 from the field.  Meka Werts scored five points, Stephanie Cziria four and Groom three, to round out the scoring.

Canisius was led by the 18-point, 12-rebound double-double of Russell.  She also had six assists and six steals in the win.  Amanda Cavo scored 15 as the only other double-digit scorer for the host.

The Stags play the final game of their five-game road swing on Saturday, playing at Niagara on Saturday at 2 p.m.