With its win over the Canisius Golden Griffins on Feb. 5, Quinnipiac women’s basketball clinched its 12th straight berth in the MAAC Tournament, aiming to take home the championship for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

While the team has been a perennial contender in conference tournament play since joining the MAAC in 2013, the atmosphere around this group feels different.

The hunger to take home gold has always stuck with the program, but the 2025-26 team is extra hungry, especially after how their previous campaign ended.

“On the horizon, there’s a more important banner, the MAAC Championship and NCAA Tournament,” junior forward Anna Foley said on Feb. 12.

Here’s what to know as they head into this year’s postseason run.

OFFENSE

Last year’s squad achieved the best finish in the tournament since 2019, falling to the Fairfield Stags 76-53 in the championship. Quinnipiac did so by using the three guard rotation of former Bobcat guard Gal Raviv, graduate student guard Jackie Grisdale and junior guard Karson Martin to light up defenders all over the floor.

With their lethal frontcourt rotation at the forefront of their offense, the Bobcats found great success from range. In the final, however, Quinnipiac couldn’t get the three pointer going.

This season, the Bobcats learned from their mistakes and then some.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Bobcats continued their excellence from range. While Grisdale and Martin were obvious contributors, the Ryan sisters — guards freshman Ella and senior Sydney — also made immediate impacts.

Quinnipiac is currently second in the MAAC in made three pointers (197) and three point percentage (37%), with Grisdale leading the team at 60 longballs made.

These kinds of numbers boil down to confidence. Both in themselves as players and themselves as a group.

“Every time I shoot it, my teammates have the expectation that it’s going to go in, therefore I can be confident that I’ll make it as well,” Ella Ryan said on Nov. 21. “If (Ella O’Donnell) is throwing it to me, then she must believe in me, so I can believe in me too.”

The three point shot hasn’t been the only area of success for the Bobcats. They’ve also dominated inside due to the forward tandem of senior Ella O’Donnell and Foley. O’Donnell is currently fifth in the MAAC in field goal percentage at 49%, with Foley just behind at 47%.

In order to take home the coveted MAAC Championship, the Bobcats will need to spread the scoring across the court and across the box score. Making their offense hard to stop will be crucial to postseason success.

DEFENSE

While offense wins games, a good defense is needed to hang a banner. This Bobcat defense isn’t just good, it’s statistically great.

Not only do they lead the MAAC in opponent field goal percentage at 36.5%, and they are No. 3 nationally in total scoring defense, holding their opponents to an average of 52.5 points per game. The only two teams ahead of them are the McNeese State Cowgirls, who sit atop the Southland Conference, and the UConn Huskies, who are the top ranked team in the country.

Perimeter defense will be the key to Quinnipiac winning its fifth conference title in program history. History shows why.

In the 2025 MAAC Tournament, the Bobcats held their quarterfinal and semifinal opponents to an average three point percentage of 26%. In the final against Fairfield, the Stags shot 53% from range. That’s not mentioning three of the top six (excluding Quinnipiac) teams in the MAAC have a three point percentage of over 28%, with the Stags leading the way at nearly 40%.

To finish the job it started last season, they need to lean on the veteran presences of Grisdale to limit shots, and Sydney to grab rebounds and effectively neutralize the three point shot. Both have been steady forces on the defensive perimeter, being some of the main contributors to neutralizing each team’s biggest offensive weapon.

The Bobcat locker room came into the 2025-26 season with a chip on their shoulder. Roster turnover, questions about the offense and looming doubts about its ability to perform gave Quinnipiac something to prove. Not only have the Bobcats met expectations, they’ve exceeded them.

With three games against conference opponents left on the 2025 schedule, the team has its eyes firmly set on Atlantic City, N.J. and finishing a job they started over a year ago, taking home the program’s first championship in over half a decade.

“I believe with everything we have, we have the talent to bring a MAAC Championship and bring one home,” Martin said on Jan. 29.