The Fairfield University women's basketball team opened the Blue Sky Classic at Dartmouth College with an 81-59 win over Wagner College.  The win improves the Stags to 6-5 on the year, while the Seahawks drop to 4-6.  The Stags will take on Boston College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the title game.  (Game Notes/Listen/videostream)

Fairfield did not allow a field goal in the first 5:30 of the second half to expand a 37-25 halftime lead to 49-26, with 14:48 to play in the game.  The Stags lead would reach 25 on three occasions, the last time with 5:45 to play, 70-45, and would dip below 20 just once, 78-59, with 22 seconds to play.

Stephanie Geehan hauled in a season-high 15 rebounds, while scoring 11 points, blocking five shots and dishing out four assists.  She also had one steal in her 24 minutes of action.  Baendu Lowenthal equaled her season-high, scoring 23 points, shooting 11-17 from the field to lead Fairfield.  Lauren Groom finished in double figures for the second straight game, hitting 3-5 from behind the arc for 12 points, while Shireyll Moore was 5-6 at the line, and 2-2 from the field, for her 10 points.

Fairfield dished out 24 assists in the game, a season-high, on the 31 made baskets.  Megan Caskin and Desiree Pina each had five assists, while Moore and Geehan had four apiece.  Taryn Johnson, in 18 minutes, dished out a season-best three assist, to go along with eight points, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.

Wagner took an early 4-2 lead which the Stags answered with a 12-4 run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Lauren Groom to take a 14-8 lead with 12:20 to play.  The Seahawks scored four straight to make it 14-12 just 45 seconds later, but again the Stags responded.  Paced by 14 first-half points by Baendu Lowenthal, Fairfield would lead by 14 points twice in the final two minutes of the half, and lead 37-25 at the intermission.

The 81 points is the most the Stags have scored in 42 games under Joe Frager, equaling the total the team scored at Niagara in a win last season.  It marked the first time this season that Fairfield has scored over 70 points.

Wagner was led by the career-high 26 points of Andrea Reed, who was 10-15 from the field and 3-3 from behind the arc.  Kelly Clark also scored in double figures with 14 points.

The Stags out rebounded Wagner 40-31 for the game, with a 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass.  In addition, Fairfield had 11 steals and seven blocks, while Wagner had one of each.  The Stags committed a season-low 10 turnovers, while forcing 16 from the Seahawks.

Fairfield is now 1-2 at the Blue Sky Classic, having lost twice in the tournament in 2003.