The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team improved to 17-3 (9-0 MAAC) on the season, defeating Marist 73-55 on Thursday evening at the TD Bank Sports Center. This is the first time the Bobcats have faced the Red Foxes after suffering a defeat in last season’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference postseason.
“It was really fun because it has been a rivalry from the start,” senior guard Gillian “Boo” Abshire said. “We wish it would have been a different result from the championship game, but that loss fueled us to get the win today.”
With the win, Quinnipiac defeated Marist for the first time since joining the MAAC.
“I am really happy for this team,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “This is something we haven’t done in beating Marist and to do it today in this fashion is pleasing to me. The girls can enjoy a nice win tonight.”
The Bobcats played efficient basketball on both sides of the ball in the first half. Quinnipiac held Marist to 19 points on 27 percent shooting in the first half while scoring 45 points on 45 percent shooting themselves. Quinnipiac finished the first half on a 29-8 run.
“I thought our first 20 minutes was fantastic basketball,” Fabbri said. “We limited their best players to getting anything easy, and offensively we continued to stay on a roll.”
The Bobcats struggled shooting in the second half (23 percent) and were outscored by Marist 36-28. But because of the big lead that that was built in the first half, Quinnipiac was able to escape with the win.
“I told them at halftime to come out of the locker room and to expect a charge from Marist,” Fabbri said. “Just to not look at the score and play hard on every possession.”
Nikoline Ostergaard led the charge with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. for Quinnipiac
Val Driscoll added 12 points and nine rebounds in the winning effort, while Jennifer Fay contributed with five points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Tori Jarosz had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Marist, while Madeline Blais had 13 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
This was Quinnipiac’s seventh win in a row and ninth MAAC this year. During the winning streak, Fabbri says that the team has followed the same blueprint.
“Everybody is focused on the mission at hand and how hard we compete against each other in practice,” Fabbri said. “Then carry it over from practice and take it out on the other team.”
The Bobcats were pleased to win, but Driscoll knows that the road to a MAAC title still goes through Marist.
“They have been reigning champs for the last nine years,” Driscoll said. “That makes us want to go get it even more.”
Quinnipiac is back in action Monday, as it travels to take on MAAC foe Manhattan. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
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