The Siena Saints women’s basketball team (19-12, 11-9 MAAC) has been leaping hurdles throughout the season, but today’s semifinal game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats (30-3. 20-0 MAAC) proved to be to tall a hurdle to jump.
The Bobcats are known around the league for their depth, and they took full advantage of it today. Siena head coach Ali Jaques mentioned Friday in a post-game press conference that they would have to play their best game in order to beat Quinnipiac in the semifinals.
But Quinnipiac took Siena out of its game early. They forced the ball out of Margot Hetzke’s hands, Siena’s leading scorer. Tehresa Coles, the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, was in foul trouble early in the game as well. With just seven active players, Siena ran out of options quickly.
There was a metaphorical ‘lid on the basket’ for the Saints tonight. They scored just 47 points on 28% shooting, including a 0-9 three-point shooting performance.
However when Quinnipiac shot the ball from deep, the rim opened up wide. Overall the Bobcats weren’t much better and were held to just 64 points. They averaged 79 points per game during the regular season, and it was just the first time they were held below 70 points since Dec. 29.
Even though both teams shot poorly from the field, the difference in today’s semifinal game was the three-point shooting.
All-MAAC First Team senior forward Samantha Guastella tied her season-high, and buried six triples to lead Quinnipiac in a game in which the Bobcats made 12 three-pointers collectively.
“We have a ton of confidence in ourselves [shooting the ball],” Guastella said. “I think that we’ve been doing great this whole season, and this is our time to shine, and to get what we’ve worked for the entire year. So if we don’t have confidence now, I think that would have been a little late.”
The Bobcats have been shooting the ball without hesitation for the better half of the season, and head coach Tricia Fabbri was once again pleased with her team’s performance.
“We just played our game,” Fabbri said. “[We] came out a little bit slow in the second half, and they made a nice push but we had all the answers.”
Fabbri commended Jaques after the game on her team’s performance throughout the season, and her personally as a coach.
The two coaches share a mutual respect for each other, and for their teams. But for Siena, their run at the 2015 MAAC Championship is over. Quinnipiac, on the other hand, has officially moved on and will play in their third consecutive conference championship game.
After the game, Fabbri was asked about her comment from two seasons ago when she said that they would never win 30 games again.
“I want to say I never say never,” Fabbri joked.
But like any other coach, she isn’t completely satisfied with what she and her team have accomplished just yet, and hopes they can capitalize on their second run at a MAAC Championship.
“30 is great, but then you want 31,” Fabbri said. “Then after 31 you’re going to want 32. So we just want to be prepared to be at our best tomorrow.”
Quinnipiac will play Marist on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in a rematch from the 2014 MAAC Championship, with the winner moving on to the NCAA tournament.
