Siena 54 Fairfield 46

The Fairfield University women's basketball team (10-4, 3-1 MAAC) ended their six game winning streak losing to the Siena Saints (6,8 4-0 MAAC) on the road. Click for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:
-The Stag's six game winning streak came to an end, while the Saints improved theirs to five straight.

-The Stags did not got many breaks in this game and Joe Frager said they had "two to three mental lapses" on defense in the first half and the team has not played in a game like this. He admitted that the squad made some silly mistake and were "panicky"

-Brittany MacFarlane was the lone standout and she recorded a double-double including a career high 13 rebounds.

-Desiree Pina shot 2-11 from the floor and 0-3 from behind the arc. Katelyn Linney was 4-16 and 3-14 from three while Joelle Nawrocki was 1-4 from long distance. The team total was 6-29 from three.

I agree with Frager, this was really one of the first times that the team played in a game that was not a blow out. They had to learn how to control the ball in a way that they were able to get an open shot. The team did not take advantage of their offense as it seemed everybody had an off day. The game would have been out of control if MacFarlane did not step up when Taryn Johnson was on the bench with foul trouble. Siena does deserve credit as they kept their composure and actually made their free throws.

Player of the Game: Brittany MacFarlane really showed something today.

Up Next: The Stags travel to Loyola on 1/14 at 4:30.

Nawrocki is 'Rockin'

Joelle Nawrocki, who played all but 3 minutes of the game at Niagara, is shooting a team-best 50.0 percent from the floor.

Over the last two games she is 12-24 from the floor, for 30 points, to raise her scoring average to 8.0 a game for the year - 24th in the MAAC.

She has scored in double figures five times this season - four of those coming in the last six games. Against Niagara she handed out a career-high six assists and a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. Nawrocki is also 8th in the conference in assists with 2.3 per game.

Historic Night For Linney

Katelyn Linney scored a game high 27 points against Niagara helping the Stags to their fifth straight win. In the process she reached the 500 points mark and became just the seventh member of the Fairfield basketball program to reach 100 made threes.

Katelyn Linney has connected 35 times from behind the arc this season and now has 102 career makes from downtown. There are only seven players in Fairfield history that have connected 100 or more times from behind the arc, led by the 209 makes of Holli Tapley (1997-2001).

Katelyn Linney is 24th in the country in three-point field goal percentage and is 39th nationally in three pointers made per game.

For the season she is shooting .467 from behind the arc (35-75) and .450 from the floor. The rest of the team combined have 25, Joelle Nawrocki is second on the team with 11.

Not on the Bench Anymore

Three years ago she sat on the bench only emerging on the court for 20 games and 56 minutes of play. Combine that with her sophomore total of 37 and she saw 97 total minutes of action. In that limited time she managed to score 6 total field goals and her two season box score read 18 points. Who would have thought that 10 games into her senior season she would have attained 100 baskets and have amassed 258 career tallies?

 

When Joelle Nawrocki walked on to the Fairfield campus she immediately found herself behind the shadows of the players who have already been cornerstone of the team. "Her first couple of years here, especially her first two years we had both Lauren Groom and we had Shireyll Moore here, two players very capable of playing the three spot so she was kind of buried," head coach Joe Frager said.

 

After those two athletes graduated, it became the time that she had been waiting for. It was finally her chance to shine and show that she was able to play and to prove herself in her junior season. The opening game of that 2009-2010 campaign featured several career highs as she played in a then personal best 20 minutes. She recorded 3 rebounds which was as many as she had in the entire 2008 season and one board shy of her 2007 mark. She also swatted her first career block and swiped her third steal. Those 20 minutes almost doubled her career totals in every statistic.

 

By the time the team played their fifth game she had set personal bests in every single offensive and defensive category. Then came December 3^rd. The squad competed in their second home game of the young season and their first in the Arena at Harbor Yard. It also became the first time that she would hear her name resonating throughout the venue in the starting lineup. In that contest she reached career greats in points (15), field goals (6), three point field goals(3), while logging a personal best 39 minutes. That is more time than she saw in the entire previous year! In fact, during the first six games of the 2009 schedule, she almost doubled the amount of minutes she had in her entire career. "The first two years were difficult not playing a lot but over the past two years I've really done all that I can to contribute in every way I can and it's been really good," Nawrocki said.

 

That start seemed to be the one that turned her Fairfield career around. She would follow with five double-digit scoring games, 100 rebounds and 60 assists. Now in her final season wearing the Fairfield uniform, she is counted upon to be an even more impactful player than last year's breakout season, "last year we started her at times but we found out that we thought our best lineup was starting three post players,"F rager said. She has found herself to be a constant part of the opening lineup becoming a starter in all 10 games and has been the team leader in three separate contests. She also paces the squad in field goal percentage and three point accuracy.

 

Even though her 100 career field goal against Albany was a little milestone and one that is hardly even noticed, it shows how far she has come from her first two seasons. Her head coach said, "The patience that she showed and the commitment to our team has really shown through this year and Joelle has done a great job for us defensively and has made some timely baskets as well."

Fairfield has Best Defensive Game

The Fairfield University women's basketball team entered Wednesday's contest against the Albany Great Danes as the eighth best defensive team in the entire nation. The squad only had surrendered 50.2 points per game and had limited their foes to shoot only 35 percent. They would 'protect' those rankings as the miniscule numbers would decrease even smaller as they held the America East team to a program record 26 points while shooting a minute 16 percent from the floor. Statistically it was the best defensive effort in the 30 year history of Fairfield women's basketball. "I'm ecstatic with this win," head coach Joe Frager said, "I thought our kids did a fantastic job defensively. They paid really close attention to the scouts and really executed it to a tee."

 

Albany already became the seventh opponent that the Stags had held to under 50 points in the first 10 games of the season. Since Frager became the head of the coaching circle, the Stags have held 26 opponents to under 50 points and are 25-1 in those games. They have also confined 14 teams to under 45 points and lastly restricted 6 to below 40 tallies. It is safe to say that defense is something that the coach emphasizes in practice, "We really focused on our defense that is what we keyed in on before going into the game, we just wanted to take away their plans and make it as hard as possible for them," Joelle Nawrocki said.

 

Excluding the Hofstra game where they gave up 89 points, the team has allowed only 38 points per game! The big reason why they were able to 'secure' their winning streak which now stands at three games and 'guard' their 7-3 record.

 

Fairfield seems to have used these non-conference games as a way to flush out their mistakes and work on their strengths before the ever important MAAC portion of their schedule. "I think we're starting to turn the corner, conference play is always difficult because everyone knows each other so darn well ," Frager said.

 

With only one out-of-conference games remaining, the Stag's defense (which is the best in the MAAC) is coming together at the right time. "I think we can make a good case that this may be our best win of the season," Frager said. The head coach has always prided his team on their defensive systems. With the offense just starting to gleam the defense has always shined. If the team continues their impressive defensive effort, it just might 'secure' a MAAC crown.

Stags go for 500

In the midst of its 30th varsity season and is on the doorstep of its 500th all-time victory. Team’s varsity record is at 499-364, a .578 winning percentage. Fairfield entered the year averaging over 17 wins per season at the varsity level and have won 65 games in just over three seasons under Joe Frager, going 65-39 under his tutelage.

They should get it against a St.Francis team who has only 1 win on the year and has lost to Manhattan by over 20 points at home. The Terriers have 60 assists to go along with 168 turnovers and have been outscored by an average of 18 points per game!

Other Milestones Coming Up:
Joelle Nawrocki needs 4 FGM for 100
Katelyn Linney needs 4 RBS for 100

Women's Basketball Announces 2010 Team Captains

The Fairfield Stags women's basketball team has announced the captains for the 2010-2011 season. They are: Junior Sarah Paulus, Junior Desiree Pina, and Senior Kelly Romano.

Sarah Paulus missed all but 4 games last year after suffering a knee injury. She has 3.6 PPG and 6 assists to go along with 6 turnovers. All reports and talks indicate that she will play this season and the knee is fine. She brings great leadership to the floor and seems to have great composure. She reminds me of Megan Caskin. A guard who is not know for her scoring but she can control the game.

Kelly Romano played in 16 games without scoring a point. She is one of the 2 seniors on the team combined with Joelle Nawrocki. I wonder if the Westport guard will get any more playing time this year. I remember 2008 when Nawrocki was in the same position, only really playing in blow out games, and then she earned a starting nod last year and played in more minutes in 3 game then she did in her career.

Desiree Pina can have a breakout year. She was named to the All-MAAC Third Team and the all tournament team. She struggled at first moving to the point guard position but she really became one of the better players in the MAAC. She was great at driving the lane and getting open. For the first time in her career, she will become the star of the team.