The top-seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats (24-5 overall, 18-0 MAAC) faces the ninth-seeded Monmouth Hawks (10-20 overall, 7-11 MAAC) Friday afternoon. Monmouth is coming off a come from behind win over the eighth-seeded Canisius Golden Griffins yesterday. Quinnipiac beat Canisius in both meetings this season by a combined 41 points.
Players to Watch
Monmouth: Kayla Shaw
Shaw is a sharpshooter who is the Hawks second leading scorer with 10.9 points per game. The Bobcats have held Shaw to only seven points in each of the Bobcats two meetings with the Hawks. Shaw will need to get separation from her defender so she can get shots off without a hand in her face. Shaw will need to step up if she wants to help her team upset Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac: Carly Fabbri
Fabbri is enjoying a great week so far as she was named MAAC player of the week and she was named to the All-MAAC third team. Fabbri had a resurgence during the MAAC tournament last year but this time she is coming on a hot streak. Fabbri scored in double-digits the past two games, 16 against Rider last Friday and then she had 21 points on Senior Day against Monmouth last Sunday. Fabbri runs the show for Quinnipiac so expect nothing less than Fabbri’s best on Friday.
Keys to the Game
Monmouth: Play Fearless
Monmouth needs to play free on Friday if it wants to upset Quinnipiac. The Hawks have no pressure because they are not supposed to beat Quinnipiac, so they can just come out and play free. Monmouth needs to capitalize against Quinnipiac’s second unit and they need to make tough shots to put even more pressure on Quinnipiac.
Quinnipiac: One game at a time
The Bobcats mantra all season has been one game at a time and that is what this afternoon’s game is, it is just another game that brings the Bobcats closer to their goal. The Bobcats need to stay focused if their shots are not falling early and trust that their defense can get them stops while they try to find an offensive rhythm. Quinnipiac will not be thinking about last week’s game or the next game because the next game is not promised.
The Game
Quinnipiac and Monmouth tip-off at 1 p.m. at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. You can listen to @qbsn broadcast by Bryan Schwartz and Ryan Chichester. You can follow them on Twitter @BryanSchwartz15 and @ryanchichester1. Link to the broadcast: mixlr.com/qbsn.
