2012 MAAC Women's Basketball Championship Bracket
Springfield, Mass. - Junior Katelyn Linney scored
20 points to propel the second-seeded Fairfield University women's basketball
team into the 2012 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Basketball
Championship final as the Stags topped sixth-seeded Siena College, 63-48, this
morning at the MassMutual Center.
Fairfield (24-7) will face #1 Marist College contest in the MAAC Championship final on Monday, March 5 at 12 p.m. in
a contest that will be broadcast live on ESPNU. It is the first time the Stags
will appear in the Championship game since 2009 when Fairfield fell to Marist
in Albany, N.Y.
Linney shot 8-for-13 from the floor, including a 3-for-6 effort from
three-point range. She also tied a career high with five assists in 39 minutes
of action. With her 20 points on the day, Linney is now seven points away from
her 1,000th career point as she stands with 993. She is also four
three-pointers away from setting the Fairfield's career record for three-point
field goals made. Linney has 206 to her credit and is closing in on Holli
Tapley's record of 209.
Senior Desiree Pina had 14 points and four rebounds against Siena while
sophomore Christelle Akon-Akech netted
a nine points and grabbed seven rebounds, both career highs. Senior Taryn
Johnson also posted nine points and seven rebounds despite missing most of the
second half with foul trouble.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle with five ties and 11 lead changes.
Siena took a four-point lead, 19-15, but Fairfield came back with an 8-2 run.
Linney put the Stags on top, 23-21, with a three-pointer at 5:44 to cap off the
run.
Siena (12-17) responded with back-to-back buckets to pull ahead, 25-23, but a
three-pointer by Linney regained the lead for the Stags at 2:44. The Saints
countered with a 5-0 run to open up a 30-26 margin but Linney drained a
three-pointer with 21 seconds left to pull Fairfield within 30-29 at halftime.
In the second half, sophomore Alexys Vazquez tied the game at 35-35 at 13:26
with a three-pointer. Linney put the Stags on top, 39-37, at the 10:50 mark,
scooping up an errant pass and putting it home. Fairfield pushed its lead to
45-42 on a jumper by MacFarlane at 7:51. A pair of free throws by Pina less
than a minute later extended the lead to five points.
After a Siena basket, Pina drained a three-pointer to make the score 50-44 at
6:11 and shift the momentum towards Fairfield. Linney then made it an eight-point
game with a jumper in the lane at 5:14 and the Stags never looked back.
As the Stags continued to roll, Akon-Akech came away with a defensive rebound,
took it down the court, and stuck in the reverse lay-in to put the Stags on top
56-46 with 4:16 left to play. Akon-Akech gave Fairfield its largest lead of the
day, 15 points, hitting a pair of free throws with 1:14 left in the contest.
Fairfield shot 51.1 percent from the floor for the games, hitting 23 of its 45
shots. The Stags defense held the Saints to just three points in the final 4:49
minutes of the game with Siena shooting just 25.0 percent in the second
half.