Thursday, March 20, 2014

Fairfield Women Need Two OTs to Advance in WBI

Congratulations to the Fairfield women's team, earning a double-overtime victory over host Bryant, 90-86, in an opening-round game of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) on Wednesday.

The Stags, now 21-10, will host UMaine in the 16-team event's quarterfinal round this weekend.

They had to rally from a 63-56 deficit late in regulation and cut the lead to 63-61 on Kristin Schatzlein's three-pointer with 1:44 remaining. Bryant eventually got the lead back up to four with 11 seconds remaining, but a three-pointer by Alexys Vazquez from about 24 feet out pulled the Stags to within 67-66.

Fairfield immediately fouled and Bryant's Courtney Schissler made both foul shots to push the lead back to three, 69-66. And, then Vazquez tossed up a desperation trey that swished at the buzzer to end the contest into the first overtime.

Bryant also held a three-point lead with under a minute remaining in the first OT when the Stags' Brittany Obi-Tabot converted a traditional three-point play to tie it up with 31.5 seconds remaining. Fairfield got a defensive stop after that to create the second overtime session.

The Stags opened up a quick 84-79 advantage before the Bulldogs pulled to within 84-83 with 1:46 remaining. Then, point guard Felicia DaCruz answered with a jumper with a minute remaining to push the lead up to three and the Stags held on for the victory.

Senior Katie Cizynski recorded her 12th double-double of the season, finishing with 24 points and 13 rebounds in 60 minutes of court time. Obi-Tabot added 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds over 49 minutes, while Schatzlein and Vazquez had 19 and 17 points, respectively.

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