Carly Thibault-DuDonis conducts a timeout. Fairfield Athletics photo.

When Carly Thibault-DuDonis took the helm of the Fairfield basketball program in 2022, it wasn’t hard to imagine her enhancing the success of the program, given her coaching lineage.

But no one necessarily expected the incredible season that the team has had this year.

After losing their third game by just 3 points, the 24-1 Stags have won 22 straight, breaking a 50-year-old program record and standing behind only No. 1 South Carolina with the longest winning streak in Division I. One more win will tie Fairfield for the most wins in program history.

Last weekend they clinched the MAAC regular-season championship, with a perfect 16-0 record. They’ve beaten opponents from seven different conferences, including two Power 5 teams, by an average of 19.1 points per game. They have been on the verge of being ranked in the AP top 25 poll for weeks.

Thibault-DuDonis’ former boss Lindsay Whalen, for whom she served as associate head coach at the University of Minnesota, said the elevation of the Stags program was all in the cards.

“The success that Fairfield is having is certainly outstanding, but not surprising,” Whalen said. “Carly was born for this. She is the hardest-working person I’ve seen during my…