Playing in front of fans at the People’s United Center for the first time since February 2020 on Saturday afternoon, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team fell to the No. 4 ranked Indiana Hoosiers 67-59. 

The game marked some Bobcats history as the Hoosiers are the first Top 5 team to visit the People’s United Center and play on Lender Court. 

The Bobcats were in control of the game through the first three quarters, not trailing until the 0:50 mark in the third quarter. The team’s largest lead came midway through the second quarter, a 13-point cushion at 27-14. The Bobcats were playing great defense and forcing the Hoosiers to take difficult shots and turn the ball over. 

Coach Tricia Fabbri was happy with the defensive effort early on. 

“Right from the tip, just taking away their offense, being really disruptive and I think we opened up 14-2, 12-2, something like that,” Fabbri said.

Senior guard Mackenzie DeWees led the way for the Bobcats, scoring 15 points on 6-13 shooting and grabbing seven rebounds. Junior forward Mikala Morris had a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 boards. 

The Bobcats were hit by some foul trouble all throughout, with sophomore guard Makenzie Helms picking up her fourth personal foul midway through the third quarter and Morris picking up her fourth during the opening possession of the fourth quarter. 

Once Indiana took the lead, it held it for good, although the Bobcats cut the deficit to as few as three points with a late game push. 

The Hoosiers were led by senior guard Grace Berger, who scored 17 points on 7-17 shooting. She was joined by junior forward Mackenzie Holmes, senior guard Nicole Cardano-Hillary, and senior guard Ali Patberg in double digits in what was a balanced scoring attack throughout. 

Holmes entered the game averaging over 20 points per game and was held to a season low 10 points. 

The Bobcats are currently in the middle of playing three games in five days and came into this game on one day’s rest, but it didn’t show by their spirited play on the court.

“We only had one day to prepare,” said Morris. “And we did that well. Imagine if we had a couple more.” 

One thing that Quinnipiac wanted to work on was limiting turnovers after turning the ball over 22 times last game vs. Army. The Bobcats did just that, cutting their turnover total in half against the Hoosiers with 11. 

“I just kept talking about it yesterday during practice, like oh my gosh what are we doing in the Army game,” DeWees said. “Indiana is known for their defense and today we had that pride to take care of the ball, to be the best while playing against the best.” 

The Bobcats will look to bounce back from this tough loss as they travel to Washington D.C. and take on the George Washington Colonials on Monday at 5 p.m.