ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It was a team effort on Sunday in Atlantic City, as the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team narrowly avoided an upset, edging out the Iona Gaels 63-62 in overtime in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals.

“They are hyper focused. They are a team,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “That’s how we won today, anyone could have gotten that ball.”

Nobody really stood out in the box score. The Bobcats shot an ugly 35% from the floor. Sure, junior guard Karson Martin had the most points on the day with 19, but she also led the Bobcats with 14 misses.

“It’s these girls right here that give me the confidence that are continuously encouraging me to continue shooting, even if it’s not going in,” Martin said. She gestured to first year guard Ella Ryan on her left and junior forward Anna Foley on her right. “They keep saying ‘We trust your shot, we trust your shot.’”

Martin used the confidence from her teammates when she hit a stepback three to tie the game in the closing seconds of the third quarter. It’s those clutch moments that define her game, not the occasional off day filled with failed field goals.

That’s why Martin was given the honor of MAAC Sixth Player of the Year at the regular season’s conclusion. An award that came down to her and another Bobcat.

“To me, it was a shame that Anna Foley and Karson Martin weren’t co-Sixth Players of the Year,” Manhattan Jasper head coach Heather Vulin said, following her loss to the Bobcats.

A game in which Martin and Foley both dropped exactly nine points and four assists.

Upon hearing this statement, Martin lit up. “I will share it,” she said with a smile. “When [Coach Fabbri] was going over awards, I thought Anna was about to get that award because of the work she’s put in.”

That work sure paid off on Sunday. As Fabbri puts it, “there was not a shot bigger than Foley’s.”

She’s talking about the game-winning shot that the six-foot-three forward took with 28 seconds left in overtime. Foley’s defender bit into the paint on a drive by graduate student guard Jackie Grisdale. Grisdale kicked out to Foley, a step inside the three-point line. Nothing but net.

“Just a great pass from Jackie and I just had to trust all the work I’ve done,” Foley said.

Her heroics propelled the Bobcats back to the championship game, securing a matchup with their in-state rival, Fairfield.

When asked about the difference between this Quinnipiac team and that of last year, Martin pointed to the adversity the team has faced and how that has forged them.

“We have had so many tough losses, but now we’ve seen every situation and we’re the team that’s going to pull it out,” she said, “…we have a really tight bond with everybody in that locker room.”

Fabbri shared a similar sentiment, pulling no punches. “I think it’s the absence of a young lady who moved on, who was the player and the rookie of the year,” no doubt talking about Gal Raviv, now in her sophomore season at Miami. Fabbri went on, “To watch what this team has been able to create and get all the way back here, I think it speaks to the character of the young ladies that we have in that locker room.”

At the press conference after the Iona win, what Fabbri meant was very clear.

“The year that [Anna and I] have had together has just been- I’m not going to get emotional,” Martin trailed off. “She has had my back through every single moment and I’ve had hers and there’s no one that I would rather win with than Anna Foley.

Throughout the press conference, their friendship appeared outside of just their quotes. The pair laughed together, whispered out of ear shot of the microphone and even answered each other’s questions at times.

That’s what the Bobcats will need on Monday at 6 p.m., but they’ll have it all day. This team’s connection is not confined in between the first whistle and final buzzer.

That being said, they will have to take advantage of every second the clock provides in order to beat the Stags. The teams traded double-digit victories in the regular season.

“We’ve been ready for them, that’s the game we all wanted,” Foley said, in the midst of Fairfield’s semifinal matchup with Merrimack.

She got what she wanted: the next chapter of the Quinnipiac-Fairfield rivalry will take place in Atlantic City. And it will feature both of the newly anointed co-Sixth Players of the Year.

“This is the P.S.A. that Anna and Karson are co-Sixth Man of the Year,” Martin said, smiling at her teammate.

Both of them were eager to say yes when asked if that could go down in writing.