Quinnipiac women’s basketball will have a lot of new faces for the 2023-24 season. The Bobcats brought in eight new players during the offseason – including a recruiting class of seven first years. It’s the largest first-year class in head coach Tricia Fabbri’s 29-year career.
Seven players left the program after last season and many of them were Bobcat mainstays. Former MAAC Player of the Year Mackenzie DeWees graduated after five seasons in Hamden. Last year’s big transfer addition Mary Baskerville graduated after her lone season as a Bobcat and is now playing professionally in Germany with BC Marburg. Combo guard Makenzie Helms also graduated and left the program.
Meanwhile, Bobcats who have been with the team the last four years like Mikala Morris who transferred to Kent State, Cur’Tiera Haywood to Austin and Rose Caverly to Florida Atlantic University for their graduate seasons. Bench guard Rose Caso was the lone underclass player to transfer out, finding a new home at Merrimack.
This year’s team will be much younger and more guard-heavy than it has been in past seasons. Without further ado, here’s who’s in for the Bobcats:
Anna Foley – Forward/Center (6’3)
Hometown: Andover, Massachusetts
Foley can hoop and she’s got a decorated high school career to back it up. Foley was a varsity player in all four years at Andover High School leading her team to two Massachusetts state titles in her freshman and senior seasons. In that senior season, Foley was named the state’s High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year by MaxPreps.
Foley’s a scoring and rebounding machine (she averaged 16.9 points per game and eight rebounds per game last year). Foley can rotate between the four and five on the floor and is skilled on both ends.
Foley’s versatile and hard to beat on the defensive end as well and is effective as both a pass disruptor and shot blocker. Foley looks like she’ll be a first-year starter with the Bobcats, filling the void left by Morris. The two even play similarly, doing most of their damage in the paint.
Maria Kealy – Guard (5’9)
Hometown: Donegal, Ireland
Kealy continues the Ireland to Hamden pipeline that Fabbri has established in recent years, following in the wake of players like Edel Thornton and current teammate Ella O’Donnell.
Kealy’s international experience against much older competition should help her crack the Bobcats rotation early and often. She’s played with Team Ireland in FIBA play since she was 17 with the U18 squad and made her U20 debut over the summer with O’Donnell.
Kealy averaged 5.7 points with the U20 team, including a game against Norway where she scored 10 points in just 16 minutes of play.
Kealy still needs to work on taking better care of the ball (she had a negative turnover/assist ratio this summer). However, she’s talented and experienced enough to be a key rotational player for the Bobcats as a first-year.
Paige Girardi – Guard (5’9)
Hometown: Warwick, New York
Girardi has no qualms against playing older competition. She made her first Warwick Valley varsity team as an eighth grader and excelled on the team ever since. Girardi scored over 1,000 points for Warwick Valley and set school records for three-point shooting and single-season points with 425. Girardi’s biggest skill on the court is her shooting. She’s reliable from deep, boasting a season-high three-point percentage of 44%. Off the court, she has qualities that Fabbri loves in her players, toughness and leadership.
Girardi came back from a brutal ACL tear during her eighth-grade season and coached both middle school and recreational basketball in her spare time. Girardi should be a key part of the Bobcats guard/wing rotation this season. Look for her to split time between the one, two and three this season, especially when Fabbri rolls out the three-guard lineups we’ve seen in years past.
Kassidy Thompson – Guard (5’10)
Hometown: Mullica Hills, New Jersey
Thompson is another skilled combo guard with a decorated high school career. She was a McDonald’s All-American nominee as a senior and a finalist for the 2023 New Jersey Prep Girls Hoops Player of the Year. Thompson scored over 1,500 points during her time at Camden Catholic High School.
Thompson does most of her damage from two-point land, but she can shoot the three-ball pretty well at a medium volume. Thompson is also an excellent rebounder for her position, she posted three 100-plus rebound seasons in high school. Thompson is another player who should be able to make an impact right away.
Karson Martin – Guard (5’7)
Hometown: Woodstock, Georgia
Martin is another decorated high schooler joining the Bobcats. She’s a member of the 1500-point and 500-rebound clubs at Woodstock High and was a four-year varsity player. She led the entire state of Georgia in both points and steals during her senior year and racked up multiple All-Region and All-County honors.
Martin keeps up with the trend of skilled and versatile combo guards. She has great court vision at the point, shoots the ball well and can hold her well on the defensive end. Martin may be a bit smaller than many of the other new guards coming in, but she has the talent and skillset to find her role in the rotation this season.
Emma Carman – Forward (5’10)
Hometown: Barnegat, New Jersey
Carman is the only other forward in this first-year class. The daughter of former NFL player Jon Carman, she played varsity basketball in all four of her years at Red Bank Catholic. She also played AAU ball for the New Jersey Shoreshots. There’s a chance Carman doesn’t see the rotation quite as early on, given the team’s older forward group, but she should make her presence felt. Carman is extremely energetic and was cracking jokes and keeping the team loose during the team’s media day. She’ll likely slot in deep in the rotation at the three or four.
Ava Sollenne – Guard (5’6)
Hometown: Greenwich, Connecticut
Sollenne is a local product who played varsity basketball for four years at St. Lukes. She initially committed to Division III Trinity College before de-committing and accepting a walk-on offer to play at Quinnipiac. Sollenne also played varsity soccer and graduated as her class valedictorian. Though she isn’t on a scholarship, she’s no less invaluable to the team.
Sollenne brings both solid shooting and playmaking abilities to the table. Despite her size and walk-on status, don’t be surprised if she’s getting meaningful minutes later in the season. Her work ethic and skillset are priming her to follow in the footsteps of another multi-sport, valedictorian, walk-on Jackie Grisdale.
Bri Bowen – Guard/Forward (5’10)
Hometown: Chalfont, Pennsylvania
Bowen was the lone transfer addition the Bobcats made over the offseason. Coming over from the University of Delaware, the sophomore wing did not appear in any games for the Blue Hens last year but was a two-time captain and 2022 McDonald’s All-American nominee as a high-schooler with Archbishop Wood.
Bowen has high effort and is versatile. She’s a reliable shooter who can play both shooting guard and small forward and is solid on the boards as well. Her biggest asset though? Her competitiveness. Expect her to be a regular off-the-bench option for the Bobcats this season.
Season Outlook
These new-look Bobcats still have the same goal in mind – competing for an MAAC title. Expect to see Fabbri using the team’s non-conference slate to work out lineup combinations and allow everybody to find their role on the team.
The biggest lineup questions for the team still are at point guard and how they’ll use their bench depth. Girardi, Martin and Kealy could all develop into starting caliber options at some point, and they’ll all likely platoon with each other to start the year. Girardi, Kealy, Bowen and Thompson also would be able to slot in at the two/three when Fabbri decides to run a three-guard lineup.
Two interesting players to keep an eye on off the bench will be Sollenne and Khadijah Tungo, the 6’6” center from Angola who redshirted last season. It will be interesting to see where Fabbri decides to work them into the rotation and how their roles evolve over the season.
These Bobcats should be competitive in the MAAC. The team was ranked fifth in the conference in the preseason polls and still has major returners like Grisdale, Grace LaBarge and O’Donnell running it back. They will likely experience some growing pains early but the Bobcats have set themselves up nicely for a new era: both for the present and for their long-term future.
