Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball Falls to Fairfield, 74-48
Nov. 14, 2009
KINGSTON, R.I. - Sophomore Lara Gaspar (Spa, Belgium) recorded her first career double-double as the Rhode Island women's basketball team dropped a 74-48 decision to Fairfield, Saturday afternoon at the Ryan Center. Gaspar finished with a team-high 13 points and a game-best 12 rebounds.
Junior Megan Shoniker (Rochester, N.Y.) also added 12 points and a game-high four assists.
Rhode Island (0-1) jumped out to an 8-4 lead over the opening five minutes of the first half and never trailed during that stretch. The Stags took their first lead of the game two minutes later when Stephanie Geehan conneced on a three-pointer to make it 11-8 Fairfield with just under 13 minutes to go.
Rhody battled back and used a 12-6 run over the next five minutes to go up by three (20-17) but a pair of free throws by the Stags' Taryn Johnson put the Stags in front 21-20 with 6:51 remaining in the half.
Fairfield (1-0) went on to outscore Rhody 11-5 down the stretch, taking a seven-point lead (32-25) into halftime.
The Stags came back from the break and connected on a trio of three-pointers amidst a 13-2 run that gave them a 45-27 lead with 14:46 left on the clock.
A basket by freshman Julia Barac (Hamilton, Ontario) and a foul shot by Gaspar cut Rhody's deficit to 17 (47-30) but Fairfield scored the next five points and led by 20-or-more the rest of the way.
Katelyn Linney finished with a game-high 18 points for the Stags while Desiree Pina (14) and Geehan (10) also scored in double figures.
As a team, Rhody won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding Fairfield by a 38-29 margin. The Stags, however, committed just 15 turnovers to Rhody's 25 and went 8-for-12 from the line compared to URI's 3-for-8 showing from the charity stripe.
Rhode Island returns to action on Wednesday as it heads to Boston University for a 7:00 p.m. meeting with the Terriers.
