Fairfield off to historic start

Thibault-DuDonis has Stags atop the MAAC standings

FAIRFIELD — Carly ThibaultDuDonis had a vision for what she wanted her Fairfield University women’s basketball team to look like in her second season and went about building it.

The East Lyme High graduate had a good foundation when she arrived here to replace Joe Frager, who led the Stags to a MAAC championship and an NCAA tournament appearance in his final season before retiring in 2022. But after a 15-15 first year, it was time for Thibault-DuDonis to do things her way.

She added four freshmen and three transfers to a group that returned three starters. As Fairfield reached the midway point of the regular season by hosting Siena at Mahoney Arena on Saturday, it was right where it wanted to be at 13-1 overall and at the top of the MAAC standings at 5-0 having won 11 in a row overall.

And the Stags seem headed in the right direction as they move forward.

“We have an incredibly selfless team,” Thibault-DuDonis said after the Stags’ win over Iona Thursday night. “That’s something that not only did we inherit from a great group of women that Coach Frager recruited, we got very fortunate with that, but we also intentionally recruited people that fit that mold. Anybody that came here knew they wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves. That’s are No. 1 core value as a program. The cool thing is they have got teammates on their right and left that look out for them. Then the teammates return the favor by having your back.”

In fact, Fairfield is in a place it’s never been. When the Associated Press poll was released on Monday, there were the Stags in the also re

Fairfield continues on B3