Women Rebound, Defeat Rider 73-57

The women’s basketball team came into Sunday’s game looking to rebound from a tough loss to Manhattan on Friday night.

The Stags went on the road down to Lawrenceville, NJ and notched their 500th win as a program, winning 73-57 over Rider.

Fairfield is now 500-394 all-time in 33 years of existence. The win raises their record to 12-11 overall and 8-4 in the MAAC, keeping the Stags in third place in the conference. Rider fell to 1-22 overall and 0-12 in the MAAC.

The game was close through most of the first half, but Fairfield ended the half on a 7-0 run to increase their lead to 37-22.

The success continued into the second half with the Stags increasing their lead to 24 with 14:10 left to play, 53-29.

Sophomore Baendu Lowenthal led the Stags with 17 points while also pulling down 10 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season.

Meka Werts ’08 was the only other Stag in double figures with 10 points. However, once again the Stags had a balanced attack as Sabra Wrice ’08 and Cara Murphy ’07 both had nine, while Lauren Groom ’09 and Stephanie Geehan ’10 each put in eight points as well.

As a team, Fairfield shot 49.1 percent from the floor, but also turned the ball over 22 times.

Despite these some offensive miscues, the Stags defense played well, rebounding from an ugly game against Manhattan. Fairfield forced 23 turnovers, including 19 steals. The Stags also held Rider scoreless for 4:25 in the first half, which allowed them to open up their lead.

Rider shot only 33.3 percent from the floor for the game, including a miniscule 24.1 percent in the first half.

Surprisingly, the teams nullified each other on the boards with both teams pulling down 37 each.

Up next for the Stags on Tuesday is Manhattan, who recently upset Fairfield in Alumni Hall.

-Chris Simmons