Congrats to Fairfield women’s BB coach Joe Frager and his staff and players for being selected to participate in the first 16-team Women’s Basketball Invitational.
Here’s the release sent out by women’s basketball SID Chris O’Connor:
The Fairfield University women’s basketball team will host fourth-seed Towson University in the opening round of the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational. The fifth-seeded Stags will host the Tigers on Thursday, March 18th at Alumni Hall, with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
The Stags, 19-13, rode a nine-game winning streak to the championship game of the Citizens Bank Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament, before falling to five-time defending champion Marist College. The Stags win streak began with a 61-60 win over the Red Foxes, and included a pair of wins over Iona College, the other MAAC team that qualified for postseason play.
Stephanie Geehan, who ranks seventh in the nation with 19 double-doubles, leads the Stags in scoring, 14.7 points, and rebounding, 11.5 points. Her 109 blocked shots is a single-season school record is good for fifth in the nation, entering postseason play. Desiree Pina, 12.4 points per game, and Katelyn Linney, 10.6 points per game, are the other Stags scoring in double-figures entering the contest. Pina is leading the team with 89 assists, while Linney has knocked a team-best 65 three pointers.
Towson, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, finished the year at 15-15, and 9-9 in conference play. The Tigers are led by the 17.7 point per game scoring average of Shanae Baker-Brice, who has also handed out a team-best 125 assists. Katrina Wheeler is the Tigers leading rebounder at 9.1 per game, with a 7.1 points per game scoring average.
Towson finished the regular season with back-to-back wins, earning the seventh-seed in the CAA Tournament, but was defeated, 50-30 by the 10th seed, UNC-Wilmington in the opening round. Fairfield finished third in the MAAC, for the third time in the three-year tenure of Joe Frager. The Stags, 11-7 in league play, advanced to the MAAC Championship game for the first time since 2001.
Fairfield earns a post-season berth for the first time since the 2000-01 squad earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The winner of the Fairfield-Towson game will face the winner of the first round game between the top-seed in the East Region, Appalachian State, and the number-eight seed, Charleston Southern. The quarterfinal will be played March 20th or 21st.
