Bears tripped up in season opener at Fairfield, 76-52

Tuesday, November 9

Fairfield, Conn.

7:00 p.m.

Brown University

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Fairfield

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Bears tripped up in season opener at Fairfield, 76-52

11/9/2021 8:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – In its first game in 613 days, Brown women's basketball fell to Fairfield 76-52. Kyla Jones led all Bears with 15 points in the defeat.

Charlotte Jewell was second on the team in scoring with 11 points and Isabella Mauricio finished the game with nine points. Both Jewell and Mauricio hit three threes to lead Brown. Amanda Latkany was the leading scorer off the bench with seven points. Jewell was tied with Chantal Nadia with a team-high six rebounds.

Most of the lineup for the Bears had not played a collegiate game but the Bears hung with Fairfield for the first half, down just four at the break. In the second half, Fairfield pulled away with an early third-quarter surge to take control of the game, relying heavily on three seniors.

"I think it was really important that no matter how the game was going we were going to establish the way we were going to play," said head coach Monique LeBlanc. "I think there were a lot of positives there and I think we worked really hard. It showed at times that our starting five and most of our rotation is freshman or sophomores and it was their first college basketball game but despite that they really competed."

Jones got things going for the Bears scoring the first points for Brown in 613 days on a transition layup. Jewell scored her first collegiate basket shortly after, knocking down a three to give the Bears an early 5-2 lead. Fairfield took a 13-9 lead but Jewell hit her second three of the quarter to cut the lead to one.

The Stags began the second quarter increasing the lead to six but Jones hit a three to trim the lead in half. Midway through the quarter, layups by Jones and Murray made it a 22-21 game in favor of Fairfield. Great ball movement led to a three from Mauricio and later in the quarter, Kirk hit a three with 13 seconds left to beat the shot clock. Late free throws for Fairfield helped the stags take a 31-27 lead in to the half.

Brown struggled to contain Lou Lopez-Senechal who scored 13 points for Fairfield in the first half.

The third quarter opened up with a 9-0 run by Fairfield as the Stags kept Brown off the scoreboard until a three from Mauricio two minutes into the quarter. The lead would get as high as 19 at the end of the quarter for Fairfield.

The Bears continued to battle to start the fourth quarter, Mauricio hit a three and a three-point play from Latkany made the score 59-44. After a miss by Fairfield, Jones hit a layup on a long pass by Jewell to cut the deficit to 13 and force a Fairfield timeout. The Bears weren't able to stop the inside game of the Stags, dropping the season opener.

Callie Cavanugh led the Stags with 20 points, all coming in the second half.

Brown will be back in action on Sunday (Nov. 14) when the Bears travel to Sacred Heart for a game against the Pioneers at 3:30 p.m.