ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Jillian Huerter scored 19 points and Meghan Andersen added 18 points and nine rebounds as No. 25 Fairfield advanced to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference final with a 65-48 win over Merrimack on Sunday.
The second-seeded Stags (27-4) will take on top-seeded Quinnipiac in Monday’s championship game. Quinnipiac was a 63-62 overtime winner over fourth-seeded Iona on Sunday.
Huerter was 7-of-13 shooting, including 5 of 8 from the arc. Andersen missed all eight of her 3-point tries but was 7 of 9 otherwise. Janelle Brown added 10 points as the trio came through with conference player of the year Kaety L’Amoreaux (18.6 ppg) held to no points on just three shots in 26 minutes.
Se’Lah Reddick scored 17 points and Paloma Garcia 10 for the Warriors (19-12).
Fairfield led the entire second half but was only up by two in the third quarter before finishing the period on a 7-2 run. Brown’s four-point play to open the fourth quarter made it a double-digit lead where it would stay.
Huerter hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the first quarter for a 14-10 lead. Merrimack came back to tie the game early in the second period, but Huerter hit her second 3 of the quarter to restore the advantage and the Stags led 28-24 at halftime.
Up next
Fairfield advances to its 14th MAAC title game. The Stags defeated fellow finalist Quinnipiac 84-65 in December.
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