HAMDEN — The tide is turning at just the right time for Quinnipiac women’s basketball as it beat Marist 51-42 in its final regular season game of the year.
Before heading to Atlantic City, New Jersey and with the No. 7 seed in tow, the only objective for the Bobcats was to beat Marist.
And it started with a bipolar first half. It was a tale of two Bobcats: pre-timeout and post-timeout.
The center of the offense — freshman forward Anna Foley — missed all of her shots in the first quarter. Frankly, Quinnipiac as a whole missed the majority of its shots in the first frame, shooting a dismal 23.1% from the field.
But so did Marist. The Red Foxes shot a tad better, but still a low 31.3% from the field in the starting frame.
Marist sophomore center Morgan Lee scored the first five points for the Red Foxes, and was undoubtedly their x-factor of the quarter.
With her ability to work the post and shoot from downtown, and also her 6-foot-5 inch frame disrupting the post, she created a headache for the Bobcats in the first quarter.
To start the second, Marist hit all of its shots. Lee, freshman guard Julia Corsentino, sophomore forward Ciara Croker and junior guard Catie Cunningham all buried their shots.
Then Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri called a timeout.
“It’s keeping (the game) as simple as possible,” Fabbri said. “Like hey, we’re not making shots, they are, let’s tighten up the defense and find our rhythm.”
And boy did the Bobcats do that. To close out the second quarter and over halfway into the third, Quinnipiac went on a 20-3 run.
It started with Foley (who led the team with six assists) facilitating a junior forward Grace LaBarge bucket, then scoring one of her own, then finding Bowen under the net for an easy layup.
“It’s frustrating not seeing the first couple go through, but I know I can bring more to the table than that,” Foley said. “I enjoy passing a lot.”
Then sophomore forward Ella O’Donnell finessed the ball into the net twice, to give the Bobcats a one-point 24-23 lead to close out the half.
“Ella was a part of that lift,” Fabbri said.
The third quarter started off bland, neither team could score. That stalemate broke with driving layups from freshman guards Paige Girardi and Karson Martin.
Martin had a career day, notching her first career double-double with11 points and 12 rebounds.
“If you’ve gotten to know Karson, you know the moxie and personality that she has,” Fabbri said. “That’s what I absolutely love about her, she brings that right to the court … her tenacity, nastiness and fearlessness allows her to go in there and find offensive and defensive boards.”
The parade of freshman success continued when guard Ava Sollenne sunk back-to-back threes. A few seconds later, Marist head coach Erin Doughty called a timeout, 34-26 Quinnipiac.
Martin’s stellar day continued when she acrobatically careened a Foley rebound into the net to close out the third quarter with the Bobcats leading 38-32.
In the final frame, Foley, O’Donnell, Sollenne and Martin all gave Quinnipiac enough of a push to end the game.
Marist made a few more shots, but were the victims of the Bobcats’ time wasting, which helped Quinnipiac seal the win 51-42.
With the loss, Marist will be the No. 11 seed in the MAAC tournament and have a date with Mount St. Mary’s in the first round.
The loss and Saint Peter’s loss also secured the Peacocks the No. 10 seed, which just so happens to be Quinnipiac’s opponent in the first round of the tournament.
Quinnipiac’s-Saint Peter’s will be on Tuesday, March 12. Tipoff is slated for 12:45 p.m.
As for what to expect from the Bobcats in the first round, Martin put it succinctly.
“A W.”
