The Quinnipiac Bobcats have finally arrived on the national stage. Although many people struggle to pronounce the name of the school, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team will help many learn how to say it.
Quinnipiac was selected as the twelfth seed in the Stockton region, where they would take on the Big East tournament champion Marquette Golden Eagles who were the fifth seed. Quinnipiac then beat Marquette 68-65 on Saturday afternoon; this victory earned Quinnipiac its first win in only its third NCAA tournament appearance.
Quinnipiac has been plagued all season long by its slow starts; they got off to slow starts in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament but they managed to comeback every time. Quinnipiac could not afford to get off to a slow start against a team of Marquette’s caliber.
Quinnipiac avoided the slow starts that had plagued them all season. The Bobcats ended up blitzing the inexperienced Golden Eagles out of the gate, as they started the game on a 9-0 run.
The first play of the game was a Marquette turnover, as redshirt junior forward Jen Fay got the steal. Jen Fay proved to be the player that stepped up most for the Bobcats. Fay had to sit out last season due to a torn ACL and has been a key contributor all season for Quinnipiac.
Today, Fay contributed significantly on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Jen Fay tipped away many entry passes into the post that were intended for Erika Davenport who would go on to have a big game for Marquette. Fay ended the game with four steals but her biggest impact came on the offensive end of the floor, where she had 20 points.
“When we need her the most, she has been great all season long. She just wanted the ball all game long. She didn’t shy away from the shot, whether she missed it or it went down, she wanted it. She made incredible plays for us all evening,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
Fay was a catalyst for Quinnipiac’s fast start. She got a steal on the first play of the game, and three possessions later, she got a layup, which she followed up with a three pointer to cap off the Bobcat’s 9-0 run, which forced Marquette to take a timeout with 7:12 left in the first quarter.
Marquette managed to trim Quinnipiac’s lead down to six with 3:51 left in the second quarter. Quinnipiac was plagued by foul trouble in the first half, as Paula Strautmane and Aryn McClure both picked up two fouls, and Jen Fay picked up three. Both Strautmane and McClure would sit on the bench as Marquette chopped away at the Bobcat’s lead.
Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri elected to put McClure back into the game but kept Strautmane on the bench for the entirety of the second quarter. This decision proved to be a wise one as Strautmane who only managed to score four points in the first half, scored 11 in the second half and hit clutch free throws at the end.
In the second, third and fourth quarters Quinnipiac was held scoreless while Marquette went on runs to cut into their lead. Quinnipiac was held scoreless for almost the last five minutes of the third quarter, but Jen Fay would pick up a steal and go coast to coast, finishing it off with a spin move to give Quinnipiac a nine point lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.
“We’ve been in that position before, were we are up by a lot and teams comeback. We get every teams best shot every night, so we knew that we just had to stay relaxed, and stay poised,” Fay said.
Marquette once again went on a run to start the fourth quarter and this run put Quinnipiac’s lead in serious lead for the first time. Marquette went on an 8-2 run to trim the Bobcat’s lead to three points.
Quinnipiac red shirt senior guard Adily Martucci knew that Marquette was not going to go away and that her team needed to stay strong.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough battle. Teams usually comeback. We just knew that we had to stay strong, we had to stay gritty, mentally tough and that’s our identity,” Martucci said.
Quinnipiac’s mentality has been described as gritty and its defense showed grit in the final moments of this game. With 22 seconds left in the game, Natisha Hiedeman rose up for a potential game tying three pointer but Adily Martucci who had guarded her closely all game swatted the ball away. This was the second time that Martucci had blocked a Hiedeman shot; she blocked another one of her shots in the second quarter.
“I just knew that I had to be in her stuff, my hands had to be up because we knew (Natisha Hiedeman) was going to launch it, she is a playmaker. Shading her left hand with my right hand and hoping that that was blocking it and it ended up being (a block),” Martucci said.
Quinnipiac has gone from hard to pronounce to the second round of the NCAA tournament in only its third ever NCAA tournament appearance. Quinnipiac advances to the round of 32 where it will play the Miami Hurricanes on their home floor. Quinnipiac will play on Monday, but a tipoff time is yet to be announced.
