The Fairfield University women's basketball team used a strong senior day effort from Meka Werts to defeat Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Saint Peter's 68-63 at the Arena at Harbor Yard.  The Stags, winners of three straight and nine of the last 11, improve to 19-7 overall and 9-6 in the MAAC, moving into a third-place tie.  The Peahens fall to 17-9 overall and are also 9-6 in league action.

The Stags scored first in the second half to go ahead, 35-30, but the Peahens responded with a 6-0 run, taking their first lead of the game, 36-35 at the 16:55 mark.  Saint Peter's continued the run, taking a 39-37 lead before Werts scored at the 15:20 mark.  Baendu Lowenthal tied the game, 39-39, at 14:53, putting home an inbound pass from Megan Caskin.  Lowenthal put the Stags back ahead with a free throw line jumper, and Werts pushed the lead back to four-points with a three after a Sabra Wrice steal.

The Peahens answered with a 7-0 run to retake the lead, 47-44, with 12:08 to play in the game.  The Stags embarked on an 11-4 run over the next 5:38 to take a 55-50 advantage.  The Peahens would battle back with a mini 4-0 run of their own, with 5:32 to play.  Tara Flaherty knocked home a lay-up on a pass from Lowenthal 14 seconds later, and a Caskin steal led to a pair of Lowenthal free throws with 4:37 to play, 59-54.  The Stags led by eight points on a Caskin free throw at the 2:18 mark, and again the Peahens came on.

Saint Peter's scored seven points in 1:35 to again close to within a point, 64-63, with 43 seconds to play.  Lowenthal knocked down 4-4 from the line in the final seconds, and had a defensive rebound to seal the win.

Lowenthal led all scorers with 26 points, including a career-high 10-12 from the free throw line, and shooting 8-12 from the field.  Werts knocked down a career-record five three-pointers, in her first start of the year, and finished the game with 21 points.  Wrice added 12 points as well for the Stags, who shot 44.2 percent from the floor, 23-52.  Caskin scored just the one point, but had eight assists, six boards and three steals in the game.

Fairfield opened the game with a 9-2 run, as Lowenthal scored the first six points of the game for the Stags.  A Wrice three-pointer pushed the Stags lead to 21-10, at the 11:43 mark.  Neither team would score for over two minutes, until the 9:28 mark when Johnell Burts knocked down a three-pointer for the Peahens.  Werts answered that with a three-pointer of her own 29 seconds later.

Tania Kennedy scored a team-high 20 points for the Peahens, and led the way with eight rebounds.

Saint Peter's used a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to only six points, 26-20, but Lauren Groom scored her first basket of the game to quell the run.  Stephanie Cziria knocked down a pair of free throws with 4:12 to play in the first half, to push the lead once again to eight points, 30-22.  The Peahens scored the next eight points to knot the game at 30-30 with :28 left in the first half.  Werts knocked down her third three of the half with three seconds left on the clock to send the Stags into the intermission with a 33-30 advantage.

Cziria finished with four points, three boards and one block in her final home game in a Stags uniform.

The Stags finish the regular season with three straight road games, the first of which is at Manhattan on Friday at 7 p.m.