The Fairfield University women's basketball team completed a season long five-game road trip on Saturday afternoon with an 81-65 win at Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Niagara University.  With the win the Stags improve to 11-5 on the year and 1-4 in MAAC play, while the Purple Eagles drop to 3-13 overall and 1-4 in conference action.

The win marks the 200^th win of first-year head coach Joe Frager's 10-year coaching career.

Fairfield entered the game the game shooting 60.8 percent from the free throw line for the year and with a 15-point lead (62-47) and just over three minutes to play, Niagara began fouling. 

It started at 3:11 with fouls on Megan Caskin for three straight possessions.  The first time she knocked down the front end, and Baendu Lowenthal corralled the offensive rebound, leading to a Stephanie Geehan made field goal, for a 65-47 advantage.  The next time at the line Caskin hit both, and the third time, hit again hit the front end, again it was rebounded by Lowenthal, who was fouled, and hit both, for a 69-52 led with 2:00 to play.

All in all the Stags were went an impressive 17-21 from the free throw line in the final 3:11 to secure the first MAAC victory of Frager's Fairfield career.  Caskin ended the game hitting 6-9 at the stripe, all in the final minutes.  Lowenthal went 6-6 from the stripe in the stretch, and 8-8 from the game, while Stephanie Geehan was 4-4 and Lauren Groom 2-2 at the stripe in the final minutes of play.

The Stags scored 81 points in the win, their highest point total of the year, surpassing the 76 points they scored in a home win over Maine.

Fairfield's offense was the story in the second half, as it shot 60 percent, 15-25, from the field in the half, including 3-7 from behind the arc.  Sabra Wrice scored a game-high 23 points in the win, with 13 coming in the second half.  She was 8-18 from the floor, with five three-pointers, passing Megan Light for fifth-place all-time at Fairfield.

Fairfield led by as many as 17 points, several times in the game, and were ahead 30-22 at the intermission.  They pushed the lead back into double-digits on a Groom basket with 17:47 to play in the game (37-26).  Niagara made a run from their however, out scoring the Stags 8-2 over the next three minutes of game action, to close within five points, 39-34.

Wrice scored the next five points of the game, with a lay-up and a three-pointer, for the 10-point edge, 44-34 with 14:02 to play.  A free throw from Cathy Rutter made the Stags advantage nine.  Shireyll Moore converted a lay-up and the ensuing free throw with 12:44 to play and Tara Flaherty made it a 14-point lead with 12:15 left, 49-35.  Niagara was able to get back to within nine points one more time, 49-40, with 9:06 to play, but an 11-3 Stags run, over the next three minutes, put the game out of reach.

Caskin, who had just two assists in the Stags last two games, dished out a career-high 10 in the win.  She also had six points and five rebounds in 37 minutes of action.  Lowenthal finished a rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 18 points, while Geehan scored in double-digits again, with 11, and had seven rebounds.

Groom finished with nine points and Werts three, while Flaherty and Stephanie Cziria both had two points.  The Stags shot 43.9 percent, 25-57, from the field in the victory.

Fairfield out rebounded Niagara 47-29 in the win, including a 14-9 advantage on the offensive glass.  The Stags held a 12-8 advantage in second chance points, and never trailed in the game.

The Stags defense was the story early as they held the Purple Eagles scoreless for the first 5:36 of the game, opening an 11-0 lead.  In that stretch Fairfield blocked a pair of shots, forced four Niagara turnovers and had the host shoot 0-6 from the floor.  The Stags opened a 21-4 lead at the 10:59 mark of the first half, as Meka Werts knocked down a three-pointer.

Niagara answered with a 9-0 run over the next five minutes, as the Stags offense went cold.  Fairfield shot 0-6 during the drought, while Niagara picked up its shooting, hitting 4-9, after opening 2-13 from the field.  Sabra Wrice ended the drought with 5:50 to play in the half, hitting a pair of free throws and pushing the lead back to double-digits, 23-13.

Neither team scored for the next 1:45 until Wrice knocked down a three-pointer, which Jen McNamee answered with a long two-pointer 15 seconds later.  After an offensive foul call on Geehan on the Stags next possession the teams traded empty possessions until Geehan hit her second of two free throws with 2:28 to play.  McNamee brought Niagara within nine points, 27-18 with a three-pointer at 2:11, but Werts answered with a three of her own with 1:51 to play in the half.  Niagara scored four unanswered points to end the half within eight points, 30-22.

The Stags opened the first half hitting 7-16 from the field, but hit just 3-16 in the final 11 minutes of play in the first half.

Fairfield returns home, for the first time since before Christmas, on Friday, Jan. 18 when it hosts MAAC foe Rider University at 7 p.m. at Alumni Hall.