SOUTH ORANGE VILLAGE, N.J. — All good things must come to an end. And for Quinnipiac women’s basketball, a season of many highs concluded in disappointing fashion Thursday night in New Jersey.
When one road to the playoffs ended in the MAAC Championship, another one opened in the form of the WBIT, but that door quickly slammed shut when Quinnipiac arrived at Seton Hall.
The No. 6 Bobcats were able to hang on for most of the game, but No. 3 Seton Hall managed to get by with a 57-40 victory.
The first quarter wasn’t pretty for the Bobcats. In fact it looked like a continuation of Quinnipiac’s underwhelming performance against Fairfield in the MAAC Championship.
From the first play of the game, the Bobcats were out of sync, something was off.
Quinnipiac won the opening tip-off, and freshman point guard Gal Raviv brought the ball up the floor, only to immediately get double-teamed. Caught in a sticky situation, Raviv attempted to throw a pass to the other side of halfcourt, only to get intercepted by Pirates freshman guard Jada Eads. Raviv had senior forward Grace LaBarge open right behind her, she just couldn’t find her.
The MAAC Player of the Year had arguably her worst showing offensively in her debut season with the Bobcats, only scoring six points on 2-10 shooting.
“She’s a very good player,” Pirates graduate student forward Faith Masonius said. “(Raviv’s) the head of the snake and I think our defense and (graduate student guard) Amari (Wright) did an amazing job on her and just limited her.”
Seton Hall did its homework, the Pirates knew what they were going up against and how to neutralize a deadly Bobcat offense. The No. 3 seed finished the last nine minutes of the opening quarter on a 17-4 run, with turnovers — six forced in the first quarter — being the name of the game for the Pirates.
It didn’t help matters that the crowd for Seton Hall was roaring all night. Pirates head coach Anthony Bozzella seems to agree.
“I think playing at home is a huge advantage for us,” Bozzella said. “It made the difference, while it maybe didn’t unnerve Quinnipiac, I think it gave us a little more oomph when both teams got tired.”
Missed wide-open shots, mediocre passes and out of sync play on offense caused Quinnipiac to be dragged into a hole rather quickly.
Senior guard Jackie Grisdale was one of the few Bobcats to play well during the first half. The Poland, Ohio native used her trademark catch-and-shoot threes to will the Bobcats back into the game. Grisdale finished with 11 points by halftime, shooting 3-5 from downtown.
The second quarter proved Quinnipiac had some fight left in it. The team was simply down, not out. The Bobcats faced a 13-point deficit with only three minutes to play in the second quarter, Quinnipiac finished the half down only six.
The team adjusted on defense, slowing the pace of the game down and causing the Pirates to be less efficient on offense. Quinnipiac didn’t have any momentum-changing plays on defense, Seton Hall was simply missing its shots.
The dip in efficiency allowed the Bobcats to pounce right back into the game. Quinnipiac closed the first half on a 7-0 run, topped off with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Karson Martin to cut the deficit to just six right before halftime.
The deficit didn’t change much for most of the third quarter, as the Pirates and Bobcats kept going back-and-forth on the scoreboard until the waning minutes of the quarter.
It was a less than ideal ending to a quarter for the Hamden blues, first half hero Jackie Grisdale picked up two quick fouls and the Bobcats allowed Seton Hall to score on back-to-back possessions.
“It was a bit more of a mental struggle than a physical struggle,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
Then at the worst possible time, Pirates sophomore guard Savannah Catalon went up for a layup and the whistle blew, an and-one foul was called. Catalan made her free throw and Quinnipiac was right back where it started.
Deficit sat at 11 points.
There was no turning of the page for Quinnipiac in the fourth quarter, just more of the same. Back-to-back turnovers once again led to four easy points for Seton Hall to the start of the fourth.
The number of fouls kept rising just as fast as the deficit. The Bobcats were faced with the impossible task of overcoming a 17 point lead with 6:30 remaining.
By the time the two minute mark ticked around, Quinnipiac was still down 16 points. The game was out of hand, but that didn’t stop the Bobcats from fighting. As they had all season long, the team kept on going 100% until that final buzzer.
But when zeroes did show on the game clock and that buzzer did ring, all the players could do was walk off the court in silence. It was over, the season had come to an end.
“We were right there,” Fabbri said. “We came out of the locker room (at halftime) and we had great looks that just didn’t go down. We were just not able to muster up enough of a comeback to get within striking distance again.”
Grisdale — who finished the game with 15 points — reflected on how she thought Quinnipiac’s struggles were a two way street.
“They were putting pressure on the ball,” Grisdale said. “But at the same time we weren’t playing offense together … we needed to put the ball in the bucket.”
The 2024-25 season has been one of immense highs for Quinnipiac. But while it comes to an unfulfilling end for the women in blue, they come away from this game closer than ever.
“This is the closest I’ve ever been to my teammates,” Grisdale said. “They truly feel like sisters.”
