Diaries
Fairfield Women’s Basketball is returning to the MAAC after a National Tournament run. It may have been historic, but can history be repeated?
FAIRFIELD, CT. The future looks bright for the Fairfield University Women’s Basketball team in their upcoming season. Finishing with a 31-2 record, 20-0 in the MAAC to clinch the Championship title, and punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, the Lady Stags can forever reflect on a remarkable season but continue to want to be better and stay best. They are not hungry; they are starving.
Last season, after an undefeated MAAC run, the Stags fell to Indiana out in Bloomington by 33 points. What might be considered a Cinderella story to viewers was only the beginning of a new era of Fairfield Women’s Basketball. It was an adjustment with a whole new offense made by Coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis that took one year of practice, a year of perfecting, and now, for her third season, a year of perfect practice to be perfected.
“We have thirty-three points to make up for now. These points show what we have to work on. It doesn’t matter about the fans or the stage we may be on, it matters that we will not get in our heads about things we can’t control.” Coach Carly says.
Every team’s record starts at 0-0, no matter how successful or not you’ve been in the past. Thibault-DuDonis considers this and emphasizes to the team that the players, coaching staff, and fans must move one day at a time.
The roster welcomes five new players and returns a strong 90% of its point-grabbers, one of whom is captain and guard Janelle Brown in her fifth season. The decision to come back was easy for her, even considering a mountain high end, something many players may want to end their collegiate career on. However, for Nellie, it was only a reason to return for more.
“I don’t want to be in the first round, I want to go to the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four. We have the chance to be a National contending team, we have the talent, we have to put all the starvation and talent together.” The Captain says.
Emina Selimovic is a senior roadrunner for the team, a term used by Fairfield alone to challenge opposing offenses with quick transition and movement of the ball, ultimately eliminating one post player. Working day in and out during preseason, Selimovic explains that the team wants to make each other better. “The key is consistency,” she remarks, especially getting the freshmen and transfers readily equipped to step into Mahoney with spotlights, and maybe some targets, on their backs.
Another roadrunner for the Stags is graduate student and transfer Raiana Brown. This being her first season at the division I level, Fairfield is the perfect fit for her strengths with rebounds and ability to adjust to the more face-paced nature of the game. As a seasoned player, she emphasized that the ball is in Fairfield’s court. “Not letting teams dictate how we run the floor, not letting them beat us up or slow us down.”
The Stags also have young talent Kaety L’Amoreaux and Meghan Anderson as second year studs for the squad. Both sharing accolades from rookie year, these two players are the future of Fairfield Women’s basketball. “I don’t want to repeat but to do better than last year without getting too into my head,” Anderson says. Both are silent leaders of the playmaking, and they may feel pressure to live up to expectations, but as L’Amoreaux mentions, “The pressure is good. We are taking it practice-by-practice, game-by-game.”
The matchup against the Post Road rival, Sacred Heart, seems to be the circled game on the schedule. With out-of-league games on top of the MAAC contests, the Fairfield Stags are geared up for a well-heeled season.
“We’re hungry, no not even hungry, we’re starving.” A vital remark Janelle Brown wants the future competition to be aware of.