The Fairfield University women's basketball team picked up its seventh win in nine games, defeating Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Manhattan College 71-66 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.  The win improves the Stags to 17-7 on the year and 7-6 in league play, while the Jaspers fall to 13-11 overall and 8-5 in conference action.

The Stags built a 14-point halftime lead, 38-24, thanks in large part to the strong play of Baendu Lowenthal.  The junior went 7-7 from the field in the first half, finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds.  The Stags were strong as a team in the first-half, hitting 18-32 form the field, 56.3 percent.

Manhattan opened the second half strong, cutting into the Stags advantage from the outset, scoring the first seven points.  Fairfield finally got on the board with a Lauren Groom three-pointer, pushing the advantage to 41-31 with 16:17 left in the game.  The Jaspers continued their run with five straight points after the Groom basket, making the score 41-36 with 14:32 left in the game.

Fairfield would maintain that size lead, or more for the next eight minutes, never getting the lead back to double-digits.  Lowenthal, who missed most of the second half with foul trouble, converted back-to-back field goals to push the lead to seven points, 53-46 with 6:23 to play.  The Jaspers were able to get within three-points, less than two minutes later, on a conventional three-point play from Abby Wentworth, 57-54.

With Manhattan the closest it had been since the 12:58 mark of the first half, Meka Werts drained her only three-pointer of the game from the far corner, to push the Stags advantage to six points, 60-54, with 4:18 to play in the game.  Werts would follow that with a lay-up that made the Stags lead eight points, with 3:54 remaining.

Manhattan would get within four points on four occasions in the final minutes of the game, but each time Fairfield would answer with a basket.  Lauren Groom converted a second chance basket to make it 64-58.  Megan Caskin would score her lone points of the game to make it 66-60 and Werts and Stephanie Cziria would knock down 3-4 from the line with 25 and 22 seconds to play to push the lead to seven, 71-64, and seal the win.

Lowenthal finished the game with a team-high 18 points, hitting 9-10 from the field, to go along with two assists and two steals.  For the second straight game four Stags finished in double-figures, including a 13-point effort from both Wrice and Groom, while Werts finished up with 10 points.  Caskin had four assists and six rebounds to go along with her basket.  Cziria played 10 minutes, hit 3-5 from the field and scored eight points, while Shireyll Moore had seven points and seven boards in her first start of the season.

The Stags finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field, 30-60, with three three-point field goals and 8-12 from the free throw line.  The Jaspers were 21-49 from the field, 42.9 percent, hitting 5-14 from behind the arc and going a perfect 19-19 at the stripe.  Fairfield out rebounded the visitor 34-28, including 17-11 on the offensive glass.

Manhattan was led by the 20-point effort of Caitlin Flood, who was 6-11 from the field and 8-8 at the stripe.  Joann Nwafili scored 14 points, and Gabrielle Cottrell added 10, while both recording six rebounds.

Fairfield continues its three-game home stand on Saturday, Feb. 16, when it hosts Siena College at noon at the Arena at Harbor Yard.  That contest has been designated as ‘Think Pink' with fans receiving a complimentary to the Stags final home game, Monday, Feb. 18, with a donation to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.