Fairfield women back in NCAAs
Lopez-Senechal leads Stags back to Big Dance for first time in 21 years
Lou Lopez-Senechal scored 24 points and Fairfield won the Metro Atlantic championship, defeating Manhattan 73-68 on Saturday despite 35 points from the Jaspers’ Dee Dee Davis.
Fairfield trailed for most of the first three quarters, built an 11-point lead in the fourth, then held off a sizzling performance by Davis, who made eight 3pointers.
Trailing by 11 with three minutes remaining, Davis went on a tear, making four 3-pointers and scoring Manhattan’s final 17 points. Her four-point play with nine seconds remaining drew the Jaspers within 71-68. Sam Lewis sealed the win for Fairfield, making two free throws with five seconds left.
Sydney Lowery added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Stags. Callie Cavanaugh had nine points and seven rebounds.
Courtney Warley had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Manhattan.
Fairfield’s largest lead prior to the fourth quarter was 2-0 but the Stags opened the fourth quarter with a 15-4 run. The Stags hit three 3-pointers in that stretch— two by Lowery and one by Lopez-Senechal — and Fairfield led 62-51 before Manhattan’s late rally.
Lopez-Senechal scored five points early in the third quarter, her 3-pointer tying the score at 33 with 7:45 remaining in the period. There would be four lead changes in the third and four ties, the last when Fairfield’s Cavanaugh hit a jumper to send it to the fourth at 47-all. LopezSenechal scored 12 points in the quarter.
Top-seeded Fairfield shot only 25 percent in the first quarter and fell behind 17-8. The Stags bounced back and hit four 3pointers in the second quarter but still trailed 31-26 at halftime. Davis led third-seeded Manhattan (21-11) with 15 points in the first half, which included 3-for-4 from 3-point distance.
Fairfield rolled through the conference season with a 19-1 record and has a 25-6 mark heading into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since receiving an at-large bid in 2001.