After a long, tedious off-season, college basketball is right around the corner. That means it is time to preview the Quinnipiac Bobcats Women’s Basketball Team. Coming off of a decent season where the girls finished 15-14 overall and 12-8 in league play, they are aiming to resume dominating the MAAC. Quinnipiac Bobcats Women’s Basketball have owned the MAAC for the past couple of years. The girls have been named conference champions four of the past five years and made it all the way to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA Tournament in 2017. If you ask me, that’s a dynasty. Let’s take a look at the players to watch for this upcoming season as the Bobcats strive to get back to that level of dominance.

Fortunately for the squad, their leading scorer Shaq Edwards will be returning as a Senior for her final season with the Bobcats. Last season Edwards averaged 12.5 points per game while shooting 37.5 percent from three-point range. What makes that production even more impressive is that Edwards only stands 5’5”.

The next player to watch for the Bobcats this season is 6’2” Forward Mikala Morris. Morris as a Freshman was the team’s third leading scorer with 9.7 points per game last season. Heading into her Sophomore season Mikala is looking to take even a bigger step forward for the team.

Moving on to Mackenzie DeWees, the 5’9” Junior Guard was the team’s fourth leading scorer in only her second year for the Bobcats. After averaging 8.7 points per game last season for the Bobcats the squad is going to need her to step up even more as a Junior.

Finally, we have 6’2” Sophomore Forward Cur’Tiera Haywood. Haywood as a Freshman balled out for the Bobcats last season averaging 7.8 points per game while shooting 37.1 percent from downtown. This production as a Freshman can only lead one to believe that she will be a demon on the court in her second season for Quinnipiac.

Since underclassmen performed well last season, let’s take a close look at some of the Freshman that will be joining the team this season. First, we have 6’0” Forward Tiera White from Port Orange, Florida. White played her high school ball at Father Lopez Catholic High. Next up we have 5’10” Guard Halee Smith from Alexandria, Pennsylvania. Smith played her high school ball at Juniata Valley.

Moving on to Nasserine William, a 6’1” Forward/Center from Center Paris, Montigny-les-Cormeilles. William played her high school ball at Putnam Science Academy. Finally, our fourth and final Freshman is 5’10” Guard Jillian Casey. Casey is from Horseheads, New York and played her high school ball at Horseheads Central High. Head Coach Tricia Fabbri clearly has zero problem with throwing a Freshman into the mix as long as they’re ready.

The Bobcats struggled in some statistical categories last season and some improvements in those areas could result in an increased winning percentage this season. For instance, last season the squad only shot 38.1 percent from the field and 29.9 percent from three-point range. An uptick in those two percentages by at least two percent could be the difference in many ballgames.

The teams goal this season should be to shoot at least 40 percent from the field and at least 31-32 percent from three-point range. Additionally, Quinnipiac shot 67.8 percent from the line last season and while that was 1.8 percent better than their opponents, there is still room to improve. Free throws are one of the most underrated parts of basketball. If you leave points at the line you are not giving yourself the best chance to win. The teams goal this season should be to shoot 70 percent from the line.

If these three improvements are met this season, Quinnipiac Women’s Basketball could be looking at returning to dominance in the MAAC.