Dec. 3, 2005

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NEW HAVEN, CONN. - Fairfield sophomore Stephanie Ryan (Coram, N.Y.) scored a career-high 18 points off the bench for the Stags, leading them to a 70-61 victory over the Yale Bulldogs on Saturday evening. Yale's Sara McCollum (Old Lyme, Conn.) had a team-high 13 points and 8 rebounds and Kaitlin Emmerling (Lakewood, Colo.) chipped in with 10 points, but it wasn't enough for Yale, who shot just 11-32 (34.4%) in the second half.

The win improves Fairfield to 2-2 on the season, while dropping Yale to 0-6.

The Bulldogs took an early 6-4 lead in the opening minutes, thanks to a pair of treys from Emmerling and Stephanie Marciano (Edison, N.J.). A Kaitlin Lillemoe (Minnetonka, Minn.) jumper extended the lead to 8-4, but Fairfield responded, and eventually knotted the game at 10-10.

The Stags then would rip off the next 11 points in a five minute span to distance themselves at 21-10. It would be the Bulldogs who responded this time, cutting it to as close as four with just under five minutes in the half on a Sarah Zoubek (Haddonfield, N.J.) jumper from the right elbow.

That would be as close as Yale would come for the duration of the stanza, as the Stags re-built the 11-point cushion when Ryan drained a three with just over two minutes remaining. Marciano would hit a lay-up for Yale and it looked as if the teams would head into the locker room with the Stags holding a nine-point edge, but Candice Lindsay (Brooklyn, N.Y.) put back a Megan Caskin (Queens, N.Y.) miss as time expired, giving Fairfield a 35-24 lead.

The Stags held the lead for start of the half, but Yale showed some resiliency, making an 8-2 run ad the midway point to cut the lead to five at 46-41. Ryan, however, drained a triple on the next Stag possession to put Fairfield back up by eight.

Yale would get to as close as six with 3:55 left when Jamie Van Horne (Healdsburg, Calif.) hit a three from the right corner, but Yale couldn't get any closer and the Stags held on for a 70-61 victory.

The Stags won despite shooting 24-39 (61.5%) from the charity stripe. Yale connected on 16-20 (80.0%) of their attempts.

Yale has 16 days off before their next contest, a road game on Dec. 19 at Delaware State. Fairfield returns to action on Tuesday when they host Hartford.

Report filed by Hank Gargiulo, Yale Sports Publicity