Quinnipiac women’s basketball (24-6, 17-3 MAAC) won its second regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title in three years as it defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins (9-20, 8-12 MAAC) by a final score of 62-49. Senior day featured three players including Adily Martucci, Brianah Ramos and Morgan Manz, who’ve led the Bobcats to over 100 total victories and now two MAAC regular season championships. Quinnipiac finished the season on a seven-game winning streak along with maintaining a perfect 9-0 series record against the Golden Griffins.
However, the Golden Griffins initially appeared as if they were going to spoil Senior Day for the Bobcats as Canisius had an early 4-0 run and eventually a 10-3 lead around the halfway mark of the opening quarter. The Golden Griffins held a 16-10 first quarter lead as Iceland native Sara Halfdanardottir scored five points and tallied two defensive rebounds. The first five minutes of the second quarter were also in favor of the Golden Griffins, but ever since then, the game and the momentum certainly switched to the Bobcats’ side. Junior forward Sarah Shewan and sophomore Jenn Fay each scored five points, and junior guard Carly Fabbri went 2-for-3 for field goals in the second quarter. The Bobcats established their first lead of the game with less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter as Quinnipiac scored five unanswered points to finish the half with a 29-23 lead.
Canisius head coach Terry Zeh may have motivated his squad in the locker room at halftime as the Golden Griffins went on an immediate 4-0 third quarter run. In addition, junior Saliah Serrette made two acrobatic “and one” plays in the second half as she capitalized on both free throws for two 3-point plays. However, it wasn’t sufficient to hold back Quinnipiac responding with a 10-0 run of its own. In the process, Shewan went a perfect 8-for-8 on free throw attempts as Canisius committed seven personal fouls which aided a 47-35 Bobcat lead at the end of the third quarter of play. In the fourth quarter, Quinnipiac didn’t let the contest get remotely close as the Bobcats established a game-high 19-point lead in the latter stages of the final quarter. Quinnipiac’s 62-49 victory revolved around their superior second half performance as they registered seven blocks, five of them coming from sophomore Aryn McClure, while out-rebounding the Golden Griffins 39-32. Additionally, the Bobcats forced six more turnovers than Canisius which lead to ten more points scored off of turnovers as well.
Shewan finished the afternoon with 16 points, 12 rebounds as she also went 11-for-12 on free throws. While both Fabbri and McClure tallied 12 points, Fabbri added five assists and four 3-pointers and McClure registered five rebounds and went 6-for-8 on free throws. Meanwhile, Canisius forward Sara Hinriksdottir put up seven points and seven defensive rebounds while senior Tamara Miskovic had two steals and six assists on the game.
As the Bobcats obtain the number one overall seed in the MAAC Tournament set to be held in Albany, New York, Martucci says that winning this event would be something special.
“We all have the same goal, and that’s to go win the ‘chip,” Martucci said. “I’ve been thinking about it so much ever since the summer.”
Fabbri believes that the team is heading into the MAAC tournament at the right time.
“I think we’re playing some of our best basketball right now,” Fabbri said. “We’ll be ready for any team that comes our way because all of them should be scared of us.”
Head coach Tricia Fabbri thought senior day was an extra special event and she spoke highly of all three seniors.
“I thought senior day was a little more emotional than it was supposed to be,” Tricia Fabbri said. “But I’m so proud of all our seniors; the transformation from when they each started as freshmen has been magnificent.”
Women’s basketball will head to Albany for the MAAC tournament where their first game is set for March 3 at 1:00 p.m.
