BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Four players scored in double digits but it wasn’t enough as the Niagara University women’s basketball team (11-9, 3-6) lost 81-70 to Fairfield University (10-10, 6-3) Friday afternoon at the Arena at Harbor Yard live on ESPNU.

Senior Shaunna Ambrose (McKees Rock, Pa.) scored a team-high 17 points. Junior Michelle Manfredi (Jefferson Hills, Pa.) and freshman Jen McNamee (Oxford, Ohio) each had 14 points and senior Chantelle Wilson (Burlington, Ont.) netted 11 points. Manfredi, who was 7 of 13 from the floor, also had a team-best nine rebounds and four steals.

Fairfield was led by Sabra Wrice with 23 points. Baendu Lowenthal posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

"We played hard, but we just didn’t have it defensively today," Niagara head coach Bill Agronin said. "We can’t give up 81 points. We need to keep the score in the 50s and the 60s to win. But there were a lot of pluses today.

Trailing by as many as 18 points, 64-46, with 10:36 left in the game, Wilson scored five quick points on a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. Manfredi then scored eight of Niagara’s next 13 points that cut the lead to eight points, 72-64, with 4:07 left. But Fairfield then made it a 13-point lead, 79-66, with a 5-2 run and Niagara could not get any closer than nine points the rest of the way.

In the first half, Niagara was within five points, 31-26, after McNamee registered her second three-pointer of the half at 6:29. After a pair of free throws from Fairfield, McNamee hit her third trey of the half to cut the lead to 33-29 with 6:04 remaining. The Stags out-scored the Purple Eagles, 7-6, the rest of the period for a 42-35 halftime lead.

Niagara returns to action Sunday when it takes on Marist College at 2 p.m. in the McCann Center.