FAIRFAX, Va. — Survive and advance.
That’s the mentality of college basketball programs across the country when the calendar turns from February to March and the postseason begins.
Quinnipiac women’s basketball started March off on a bitter note, falling to the Fairfield Stags in the MAAC Tournament Championship for the second consecutive time.
Thursday night, the group would write the next chapter of the 2025-26 season in Fairfax, Va., defeating the Atlantic-10 runner up George Mason Patriots by a score of 71-64.
“We were very well prepared for this game,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “We always found a big play or got a big stop.”
The three pointer was a point of emphasis in the Bobcats run in the MAAC tournament. In each of Quinnipiac’s three matchups during the tournament, the team failed to eclipse 30% from three, shooting a combined 27% during that span. The Bobcat attack has succeeded the most when they can knock down longballs and find those big plays.
Quinnipiac found those big plays early and often as graduate student guard Jackie Grisdale drilled a pair of threes for her first points of the night, while freshman guard Ella Ryan came back with a layup and a three of her own. Quinnipiac rode the momentum of those scores to the tune of a 21-point quarter.
While the Quinnipiac offense has played rocky as of late, the defense remains consistent. In the first, the Bobcats held Atlantic-10 All-Conference Team members junior forward Zahira Walton and junior guard Kennedy Harris to a combined eight points.
“It’s who we’ve been all year,” Fabbri said. “Defense into offense.”
But the Bobcats couldn’t keep them contained for long, as Harris reached double digit points at halftime. The surging Patriot attack was kept at bay by the Bobcats as George Mason outscored Quinnipiac by a score, keeping them within striking distance by the end of the first 20 minutes.
For a majority of the third quarter, it felt like the Bobcats were finally about to run away with the game as they have so many times during the regular season. But then, graduate student forward MJ Johnson put in a pair of free throws to cut the lead to nine.
Walton would make two more to cut the lead to seven.
A pair of Patriot layups later and George Mason was knocking on the door for the first time all game, trimming the Bobcat advantage to four.
But as they have all year, Quinnipiac rallied and proved exactly why this team has been so great all year.
“This week, I feel like there has been a different feel around the gym,” Grisdale said. “Just another joy to keep being able to play together as a team.”
After a two-minute scoring drought to start the fourth quarter, Grisdale got the ball in her hands and did what she does best: knock down threes. The Poland, Ohio native drilled her 17th point of the game in wide open space to grow the Bobcat lead to seven.
But the Patriots kept fighting until the last second, bringing the game within a score twice in the last three minutes. A foul call on Harris and a pair of made Grisdale free throws on the ensuing shots put the game out of reach for George Mason and cemented Quinnipiac’s first ever Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament win in program history.
The reward for its inaugural victory? Travelling over 3,000 miles to the West Coast to take on the Stanford Cardinal in the second round of the tournament. Despite their longest travel day in over a decade, the Bobcats are approaching the task with a smile on their face.
“To have the team chemistry and culture that we have right now means everything,” Ryan said. “It feels like I’m (traveling) with my family.”
Quinnipiac will take on the Cardinal Sunday, March 22. Tip-off from Stanford, Calif., is set for 5 p.m EST.
