HAMDEN — Wins aren’t always pretty. Quinnipiac women’s basketball took that phrase to heart Thursday night as they took down the Niagara Purple Eagles 54-38 in a game that can only be described as ugly.
“Today’s win keeps us in the hunt for a regular season co-championship but it was costly,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “Extremely bittersweet right now.”
That cost came after a 7-0 first quarter run, when junior guard Paige Girardi exited the game with an injury early into the opening quarter. With Girardi on the court, the Bobcats looked like their usual selves. Without her, the offense struggled to get going.
The first quarter, even without Girardi on the court, saw Quinnipiac move the ball well on the offensive side of the ball, shooting 33% from range and 37% from the field. That was unfortunately the last offensive hot streak the team would have for the next 20 minutes of action.
From the opening of the second quarter, the Purple Eagles found the solution to stopping the lethal Bobcat attack: pressuring them for every single second they had the ball. For a lot of the quarter, it worked.
“Niagara is a really good defensive team, they always have been,” junior guard Karson Martin said. “They love the press and clearly they’re physical.”
The Bobcats were held to 10 points, turning the ball over eight times in the frame and making four of 13 total field goals.
On the other side of the ball, Quinnipiac shut down the Purple Eagles in nearly every facet of the offense, a feat they’ve done in nearly every single game all year. The defensive efforts from the Bobcats kept the lead in their favor, despite the Purple Eagles getting the game within a score by the end of the half.
When you look at the box score for the third quarter, you see a fairly even matchup with the Bobcats gaining a six-point lead. But what it doesn’t tell you is that this is the frame where Quinnipiac started to get back into a groove
The Bobcats led in field goals made, field goal percentage and rebounds, riding the momentum of that performance to a 12-point quarter and holding a 14-point lead by the time the final frame got underway.
The defense continued its dominance throughout the entire third quarter, stopping Niagara’s offense at nearly every single turn and holding them to six points, helping the lead grow.
In the fourth, the long offensive dry spell finally ended and both teams exploded.
Martin and junior forward Anna Foley each nailed a pair of buckets to go on an 8-2 run by the media timeout. A three pointer from graduate student guard Jackie Grisdale and a layup by senior forward Ella O’Donnell were the cherry on top that put the game comfortably out of reach for the Purple Eagles to come back from.
The win gives the Bobcats a simple scenario. Win against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Feb. 28 and secure the one seed in the MAAC Tournament and at least a co-share of the regular season championship with the Fairfield Stags.
“We’ve really talked about, in the last few weeks, to put another banner up in M&T Bank Arena,” Fabbri said.
Tip-off from Hamden is scheduled for 2 p.m.
