WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – A fourth-quarter surge made the difference as the Monmouth women's basketball team fell to Fairfield, 61-54, on Monday night at OceanFirst Bank Center.
 
The Hawks (9-6, 4-2 MAAC) led by two, 48-46, with 6:22 left to play before the Stags (11-6, 8-1 MAAC) made five of their last six shots from the field as part of a 15-6 run to secure the road win.
 
Three Monmouth players finished with double-digit points, led by a team-high 15 from Kaci Donovan. The second-year shooter knocked down three treys and was 6-of-13 from the floor. Lucy Thomas had her best outing of the season, shooting 7-of-9 from the field for 14 points to pair with six boards.
 
Ariana Vanderhoop finished the night with 10 in the scoring column, while Belle Kranbuhl tallied eight to go along with four rebounds.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"I am incredibly proud of our fight against a very good and veteran Fairfield team. We proved to ourselves that we can compete with the top team in the league and I'm excited to build on this experience."  
-Head Coach Ginny Boggess

-Donovan recorded her sixth double-digit scoring performance of the year.
-Vanderhoop scored in double figures for the fourth time this season.
-Kranbuhl recorded a block for the seventh straight game.
-Thomas reached double-digit points for the first time this season.
-Monmouth held their 11th opponent of the season to under 30-percent shooting from deep.
-It was the seventh outing of the year that a Hawks' opponent was limited to three or fewer 3-point makes in a game.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-The Hawks outrebounded the Stags, 36-32.
-Monmouth scored 56 percent of its points from inside the paint.
-The Hawks assisted on 48 percent of their made shots.
-Monmouth had three players with double-digit scoring for the fourth time this season.
-Monday's game was the 22nd all-time meeting between Monmouth and Fairfield.

UP NEXT
The Hawks will close out the homestand with a MAAC game against Rider on Thursday slated for 7 p.m. at OceanFirst Bank Center.