ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — “These young ladies are one of the statistically best defensive teams in the country, by far statistically the best defensive team in the conference,” Quinnipiac women’s basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri said about her squad.
Fabbri isn’t wrong. Her Bobcats rank second in the country in points allowed per game (50.9). The only team ahead of them is the UConn Huskies (50.7). The next closest team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is Fairfield, nestling in at 56.4.
Despite this feat, not one Bobcat was selected to the MAAC All-Defensive Team.
“In my opinion, [Jackie Grisdale] was omitted from the All-Defensive teams,” Fabbri said. “And an opportunity to be Defensive Player of the Year.”
Grisdale, the graduate student guard, was still recognized for her efforts, earning a spot on the All-MAAC First Team. She is the Bobcats’ captain, the scoring leader of the squad and in Fabbri’s words: “the glove, defensively.”
Grisdale was none too disgruntled with the awards she didn’t win. After Friday’s 59-43 quarterfinal victory over the Manhattan Jaspers, she was nothing but smiles.
“The snub was not in my mind at all,” she beamed. “Individual recognition for a defensive team doesn’t really matter to me.”
The Bobcats will need Grisdale on Sunday, as they square up against the No. 4 Iona Gaels, with a spot in the MAAC Championship on the line.
In fact, they’ll need the whole team. As Grisdale puts it, “I think what makes our team so special is how well we play defense as the five of us out there on the court.”
“I’ve been in this league for ten years now, and I really believe that this is one of the best teams that Trish has had,” Heather Vulin, the tenured head coach of Manhattan, said. “I thought they had seven starters this year.”
To Vulin’s point, every Bobcat played their role on Friday. Of the six to see at least 20 minutes of court time, five scored nine or more points. The sixth, senior guard Sydney Ryan, provided three steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
It’s that depth that kept them in the game on a night that Grisdale was not the lights-out shooter she typically is. She went just two for seven from beyond the arc, well below the 40% clip she began the game with.
For much of the first half, it was senior forward Ella O’Donnell who managed the brunt of the scoring. She had similar six-point streaks at the start of the first quarter and end of the second, where she was the only Bobcat to score.
“Ella and Jackie are what I appreciate so much as a coach, four year, five year players that have been in the program,” Fabbri said. “They understand what it takes to have success and then they elevate the program in their leadership.”
Last year, the veteran experience of O’Donnell and Grisdale brought this team to the MAAC Championship. This year, they will need that leadership, paired with this evolved defense, to propel them back to the Atlantic City Championship.
Quinnipiac held Iona to 54 points in their first matchup. Without that game, the Gaels averaged a score of 62.2 in conference play. They feature six-footer, junior forward Zoey Ward, who ranks second in the MAAC in rebounds per game (8.6) and sixth in scoring (13.7). In their quarterfinal victory over Siena, she recorded 12 rebounds and put the game out of reach with two made free throws with 30 seconds left.
“We take pride in our defense,” Grisdale said. “Every time we step on the floor, we want to shut the other team down.”
