The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 11 games with a gut-wrenching come from behind win over the top team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Iona Gaels.
Quinnipiac entered the contest boasting a 10 game win streak but faced a fierce opponent in top seeded Iona (17-10, 13-3 MAAC) carrying a seven game win streak of their own.
The Bobcats (16-7, 11-3 MAAC) started the game off slow allowing the Gaels to get the jump and finish out the first quarter with a 13-4 run. Iona dictated the pace of the game for much of the first half, making Quinnipiac seem off its game. The Bobcats woes continued into the second quarter as they finished out the second half 0-for-12 from beyond the arc. The Bobcats shot under 35% from the floor, without making a single three-point basket, which is very uncharacteristic of this Bobcats team.
Despite Quinnipiac’s struggles shooting, Iona’s lead at halftime was only 31-25. The Bobcats hopes were kept alive by their presence in the paint throughout the game. Freshmen Aryn McClure and Paula Strautmane combined for 20 of the Bobcats’ 25 points in the half, 16 of which came in the paint.
The Bobcats regrouped at halftime focusing on needing to get more offense, more of the offense that had propelled them to 10 straight victories.
“We weren’t even playing our type of game and we were only down six at halftime so we felt pretty good at that point,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “Imploring at halftime… we need to huff it. We got to get our offense going.”
The Bobcats found their form early on in the second half to erase Iona’s lead that went as high as nine at one point in the third quarter. Three minutes into the third quarter sophomore Brittany Johnson hit a three pointer to break the stretch of Bobcats’ shooters being 0-for-13 from three at that point.
After the three by Johnson the Bobcats hit four more threes, two by Carly Fabbri early in the fourth quarter that tied the game.
However, what carried the Bobcats to the win was the continued strong play of McClure and Strautmane down the stretch.
McClure finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, five coming on the offensive end. Strautmane finished with 14 points and seven offensive boards. Their combined 16 offensive rebounds created 15 second-chance points for the Bobcats en route to the come back victory.
The Bobcats strong play in the paint played a role in opening up space for their perimeter shooters in the second half.
“In the first half our shots weren’t falling but our coaches are confident in us and we are confident in ourselves that shots are going to drop,” sophomore captain Carly Fabbri said. “I think that if we are ready to attack and get those kick outs we believe those shots are going to drop and that’s what happened in the second half.”
With such a young team, winning in different ways is something that Tricia Fabbri believes will pay huge dividends for her team.
“It’s really imperative that we’re in different situations,” Fabbri said. “When you’re seeing different teams at this point in the year where everyone is really familiar. We were unfamiliar seeing Iona for the first time but we’re going to see them quite a bit going forward in the next couple of weeks… So it’s good to find different ways to win games. It’s a really good quality to have.”
Quinnipiac travels to take on St. Peter’s in its next game Sunday Feb. 14.
