The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team (15-9, 10-4 MAAC) defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins (9-14, 5-9 MAAC) 65-51 Sunday afternoon in a game with two completely different halves of basketball.
“It was a tale of two halves,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “We’ve been putting together some strong second halves, but we really have to get stretches of 40 minutes of basketball.“
In the first half, both teams traded baskets early on. At the less than eight-minute media timeout, the Bobcats were down 18-16. The two sides continued to battle but the Griffins ended the half on a 12-2 run and were up by 11 points at the break, led by forward Jamie Ruttle and guard Tiahana Mills. Quinnipiac started the game cold, shooting just 6-30 (20%) in the first half, while Canisius was 13-28 (46.4%) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
“[We were thinking], ‘get it together,’” guard Jasmine Martin said. ”We didn’t shoot well. We knew what we had to do it was just a matter of doing it. We just had to stay disciplined. The first 20 minutes we were all just like, ‘It’s not us. It’s not who we are.’”
The Bobcats came out of the locker room with immense intensity and started the second half on a 12-0 scoring run, which eventually blossomed into a 24-5 run. Quinnipiac’s defense didn’t allow a Canisius score until the 13:30 mark in the second half, and with just more than five minutes to go in the game, a layup from senior Brittany McQuain stretched the Quinnipiac lead to 11. The Bobcats allowed just 21 points in the second half, and forced 21 Canisius turnovers in the contest.
Quinnipiac hit its shots from the charity stripe late in the game to secure its second win of the season over Canisius. The Bobcats defeated the Griffs on the road 65-55 back on Dec. 21.
The Bobcat players and Fabbri credit their comeback and 10th win in MAAC play to their performance without the basketball in the second half.
“It was our defense,” senior Brittany McQuain explained. “Unfortunately, it has been a theme of ours to let teams get on a hot start in the first five minutes of the game. Its something we’re continuously working on. Our defense has been an emphasis throughout this entire year. We need to make sure the way we play in the second half is the way we start every single game and play 40 minutes not 20.” McQuain finished the 2 p.m. tilt with game highs in points (18), rebounds (7) and steals (3).
“[McQuain’s] hands were everywhere getting steals and rebounds,” Fabbri said. “Maria [Napolitano] knocked down two ‘threes’ as well and we just chipped away and played our basketball. Possession by possession we played Quinnipiac basketball.”
Martin, a junior, hit two 3-pointers late in the game to increase the Quinnipiac lead to double digits and added 13 points in 26 minutes.
“I was thinking a lot in the first half instead of doing what I do which is shoot the ball. The team was supporting me and it felt good to hit those shots,” Martin said. “We can dominate the game. We can dominate teams, and we have dominant players who can step up at any time. That’s what we have to do from the start, not just the last 20 minutes.”
The Bobcats know they won’t be able to fall that far behind and expect to win in the future.
“When we play against a really good team, we won’t be able to dig ourselves out of that hole,” Martin said. “We can’t get in that situation.”
Quinnipiac, which has won three games in a row and seven out of its last eight, returns to the hardwood on Valentine’s Day where the Bobcats will take on the Marist Red Foxes. Tip-off in Poughkeepsie is set for 5 p.m.
“We have a great opponent coming up in Marist and we need well executed offense and really stingy defense to go up their and get a win on their home court,” Fabbri said.
