Thanks to a scoring onslaught by graduate student guard Rose Caverly, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team rebounded from a tough loss against Iona to beat Marist 58-52 Saturday night.

Caverly, who threatened her personal best 26 points, was able to stuff the stat sheet for the Bobcats, scoring 18 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists. 

On the other side, the first quarter was the Zaria Shazer show for Marist. The junior forward carried the Red Foxes on her back, as her nine points was the highest point total by a single player in the quarter. For the Bobcats, they matched Shazer’s offensive touch with a different type of stretch. 

Quinnipiac turned the ball over seven times in the first period and 17 times in the matchup as a whole. Although the Bobcats were able to keep a consistent lead, the costly giveaways kept the Red Foxes alive throughout. 

The Bobcats led by a slim two-point margin heading into the second quarter and all they did was build on it. Big buckets in transition from Caverly, redshirt freshman guard Rose Caso and senior guard Makenzie Helms helped push the lead up to seven. 

“I thought Rose Caverly was fantastic tonight and tone-setting for us,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said postgame on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We were putting the ball in the bucket … our defense has been stout.”

Shazer, who shattered her career-high with 29 points, forced the Red Foxes to rely more on her, rather than junior guard Kiara Fisher. Fisher set a program record with 44 points in Thursday’s victory over Mount St. Mary’s, but tonight, Quinnipiac found a way to hold her to just a single bucket.

With just over four minutes left in the half and the Red Foxes hitting their stride from the floor, the Bobcats came out of the media timeout and immediately suffered a big loss. Graduate student forward Mary Baskerville hit the court hard and went straight to the locker room. The Providence transfer was clutching her right elbow, but returned for the third quarter. 

While Baskerville was in the locker room, a shootout was breaking out. Both Caverly and Shazer traded baskets at will and thanks to Caverly’s perfect perimeter shooting (4-4 in the first half, 4-5 overall), the Bobcats took a 35-30 lead into the break. 

Out of the locker room, the Bobcats pulled ahead even further, scoring six straight to increase the lead. Good, crisp passing, along with Caverly’s seemingly untouchable offense, jumpstarted Quinnipiac’s strong second half. 

“We’ve got the skill, the talent and the young ladies to go after it and they really made a change out of the locker room,” Fabbri said. 

Late in the third quarter, the Red Foxes began to lock down on the defensive side of the floor. The hosts held Quinnipiac scoreless for more than four minutes and pulled back to within two points.

Both sides were cold shooting the ball near the end of the quarter. Despite leading by 11 earlier, the Bobcats allowed Marist to climb back in and trail 48-41 heading into the final frame.

With the fourth quarter winding down and the Red Foxes only trailing by two, the Bobcats started playing more physically in the paint. Once in the bonus, senior forward Cur’Tiera Haywood began to draw more bodies towards the rim, leading her and her teammates to get to the line more often.

With 26.3 seconds left in regulation, sophomore forward Grace LaBarge drilled a huge and-one to bump the lead up to five. Following a missed three from Marist graduate student guard Kendall Krick, a big rebound by Caverly (coupled with two free throws on the other side) officially iced the game for the visitors.

Fabbri, who entered the 2022-23 season with 482 career wins, now sits just seven victories away from reaching the 500 mark for her illustrious, 28-year tenure in Hamden. Even with the arena filled with Marist supporters, Fabbri enjoyed the evening. 

“This is such a fun arena, such a fun environment,” Fabbri said. “Quinnipiac (and) Marist, doesn’t get much better than this on a Saturday night.”

The 11-7 Bobcats will look to win their second game in a row, as they head into a matchup at Manhattan on Jan. 26. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.