The Quinnipiac Bobcats women’s basketball team (20-3, 12-0 MAAC) hosted the Rider Broncos (7-16, 4-9 MAAC) on Saturday afternoon.
The Bobcats have not lost since the calendar turned to 2015, and they entered today’s game with the hope of extending their win streak to 10 games.
Rider fell behind immediately, and as the game went on they dug themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. The Bobcats won by a score of 96-54 to stay perfect in the MAAC.
Quinnipiac held complete control for nearly the entire game, and 20th year Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri loved what she saw from her team.
“Today was a really great 40 minutes of basketball,” Fabbri said. “They just couldn’t get anything on track tonight, and I thought we played really, really hard and really well together for 40 minutes.”
It was a fast game from the opening whistle, which generally plays to Quinnipiac’s favor. Fabbri was encouraging her guards to keep pushing the ball whenever possible, and the Bobcats were able to score with relative ease when they got out on the break. They scored most of their first-half points in transition, but towards the end of the half they started to knock down the jump shots.
The game slowed down a little with about 10 minutes to play in the first half. Quinnipiac built a 25-9 lead on more fast break points and a couple deep balls, leading to a Rider timeout.
But Rider’s timeout was not enough to stop the bleeding; the Bobcats sank a few more threes and a handful of layups to take a 47-23 lead at the half.
Quinnipiac used a balanced attack in the first half, but it was senior Nikoline Ostergaard who led the Bobcats with nine points, four boards and a pair of assists. Senior point guard Boo Abshire had a well-rounded half of her own, scoring five points in addition to pulling down two rebounds and six assists.
The biggest difference in the first half was the execution. Quinnipiac only turned it over six times compared to Rider’s eight, and while the Bobcats shot 53 percent from the field, the Broncos shot a mere 28 percent.
The Bobcats got what they needed about nine minutes into the second half. Abshire swung the ball to Ostergaard, who skipped it to fellow senior Samantha Guastella. Guastella buried the three, which essentially broke open the floodgates. Quinnipiac scored on their next few possessions and extended their lead to 75-36 with less than eight minutes to go.
Three of the 12 Bobcats that scored in the game scored a career high. Freshman Carly Fabbri scored six, sophomore Brianah Ramos scored eight, and freshman Sarah Shewan scored 13.
Shewan has seen limited minutes this year, but she said that she liked being eased into the program, and that it helped her find the success that she had tonight.
“The way it [our lines] is right now, I really enjoy that,” Shewan said. “It’s actually helping me grow as a player. I feel more confident now than I did before.”
The Bobcats are set to play the Gaels of Iona at home on Monday, when they try to continue their hot stretch as they enter the final few weeks of the regular season.
