HAMDEN, Conn – Welcoming back a dominant 2012-13 NEC Championship team to honor alumni, the 2022-23 Quinnipiac women’s basketball team put on its most dominant performance of the season, battering the Marist Red Foxes 73-45.

“It’s obviously our best performance to date,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “A complete game, an efficient game offensively and defensively.”

Before the game, Quinnipiac and Fabbri honored Marist head coach Brian Giorgis, who is retiring at the end of the season.

At the beginning of the first quarter, the Bobcats and the Red Foxes traded their way to an 11-10 score.

The market-esque constant trading of baskets started with sophomore guard Jackie Grisdale, who led the way for Quinnipiac with five points. Junior guard Kiara Fisher and sophomore guard Catie Cunningham both had three points for Marist at the media timeout in the first quarter.

At the end of the frame, Quinnipiac led Marist by seven thanks to freshman forward Ella O’Donnell. Marist shifted a lot of their interior defense onto graduate student forward Mary Baskerville, who had two-straight double-doubles entering Saturday, allowing O’Donnell to sneak into the paint and get wide-open looks.

In the second, the Red Foxes played a physical style of basketball on the Bobcats which resulted in fouls not getting called. Quinnipiac found its way into the paint with layups from Grisdale senior forward Cur’Tiera Haywood.

Graduate student guard Rose Caverly found her stroke around the arc burying a three and a deep two while Baskerville started winning battles in the paint.

At the end of the first half, Quinnipiac led Marist 35-25.

During halftime and at postgame, the Bobcats honored the 2012-13 NEC championship squad and other alumni.

“It’s been a great trip down memory lane,” Fabbri said. “It’s family, whether I know you or don’t know you, this matters now.”

Coming out of the break, the trio of Caverly, graduate student forward Mackenzie DeWees and senior forward Mikala Morris strutted their way to a fast start. Caverly did the dishing and found Morris for an easy layup and a mid-range jumper, meanwhile, DeWees did a circus move to find the basket.

The trio had Quinnipiac up 41-32 four minutes into the third quarter.

A shift to man defense stifled Marist, limiting it to just 10 points in the quarter, which allowed the Bobcats to truly enter into cruise control. Everything was clicking at the end of the frame.

It started at the top, junior guard Makenzie Helms had one of her best shifts of the year, putting up quality minutes and spreading the ball around to almost everyone.

“She’s done an excellent job with her minutes when she comes in,” DeWees said. “She’s kept everyone together and in-tempo.”

10 Bobcats saw minutes going into the third quarter, and nine of them were on the board.

Sophomore forward Grace LaBarge found her three-point stroke, burying two in the third. In the entire game, Quinnipiac shot 47.1% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc.

Being completely in control, Quinnipiac was up 55-35 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Bobcats used the fourth quarter to staple this game as their best performance of the year. Caverly dished two dimes which resulted in a Grisdale three and a Baskerville bucket, putting her in double-double territory again.

Baskerville notched another one later in the frame, her third straight. She finished the day with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

“It’s awesome … I had no doubt that Mary would play up to this,” Morris said. “I’m really glad that all of our hard work is finally paying off.”

Some of the Bobcats’ bench depth checked in near the end of the game. Sophomore guard Reiven Douglas, redshirt freshman guard Rose Caso and junior forward Tiera White entered the game in the waning minutes of the fourth. White was the only one of the bunch to end up on the score sheet, dropping two points and snatching two rebounds.

The dominant Bobcat performance ended with a 73-45 final, showing what Quinnipiac is capable of when firing on all cylinders.

“It was great that we had our best performance, that our current Bobcats can showcase their talents and their team,” Fabbri said.

The Bobcats will cap off their four-game homestand against Canisius on Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.