Hamden, CT- The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team defeated the Marist Red Foxes 51-42 in their regular season finale on Saturday, March. 9, 2023. The contest gave the Bobcats their seventh straight win against Marist, including a 64-62 overtime victory in Poughkeepsie, New York last month. Quinnipiac ended the season 9-11 in conference games but finished with back-to-back victories over Iona and Marist to spark confidence going into tournament play.
“We talked about building momentum when we get on the bus down to Atlantic City, and to accomplish that with back-to-back wins this late is pretty impressive,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
First-year guard Karson Martin led the team with 11 points and 12 rebounds for her first career double-double and forward Anna Foley contributed 10 points in the win.
Quinnipiac struggled early in the game, going 3-13 from the field in the first quarter but kept the game close as all their makes came from behind the arc. However, in the final minute of the first, Marist’s Julia Corsentino forced a Quinnipiac turnover. After an offensive rebound by forward Ciara Croker, Corsentino splashed a three, giving the Red Foxes a 14-10 lead.
The Bobcats would go down by nine just over three minutes into the second quarter after Marist’s Catie Cunningham connected on a deep two and Fabbri to use a timeout. She emphasized the importance of the defensive end to her team.
“We’re not making shots, they are, let’s tighten up the defense and find your rhythm,” Fabbri told the team. The message seemed to resonate with the players.
Quinnipiac went on a 10-0 run to close out the half holding Marist scoreless over the final six and a half minutes of the second quarter. The Bobcats kept the momentum going in the third quarter as Marist wouldn’t score until two offensive boards by the Red Foxes and a foul by Bri Bowen put Erin Fox on the line after three minutes had passed in the second half.
After Fox made one of her free throws, Quinnipiac’s Ava Sollenne would add two three-pointers to extend Quinnipiac’s lead to 10 before Croker gave the Red Foxes their first made field goal of the second half with 4:23 remaining in the third quarter.
One of Martin’s four offensive rebounds came with time winding down in the third, as she gathered a missed shot from Foley and beat the third-quarter buzzer to give Quinnipiac a 38-32 lead going into the fourth.
“Karson has been a great rebounder for us,” Fabbri said. “Her tenacity and nastiness and fearlessness allow her to go in there and go find offensive boards as well as defensive boards. It’s an incredible lift when we can find extra possessions on the offensive end.”
“She was a monster on the glass today,” Foley added about her teammate.
The Red Foxes were without top point scorer Zaria Shazer, as well as senior guard Kiara Fisher, and the Bobcats’ defense held Lexie Tarul, Marist’s second-leading scorer on the season, scoreless until late in the third quarter. Tarul would finish with nine points but only shot 3-14 from the field.
“We’ve evolved in defining an identity, and now our defensive side of the floor is starting to come along,” Fabbri said.
“Marist is a solid team,” Martin said. “They’re tough with Shazer and Fisher…so with those two out I think it was a lot easier to set up and handle the pressure.”
Quinnipiac’s defense shined to start the fourth quarter by forcing a turnover, leading to a Foley and-one opportunity to put the Bobcats back up by nine. Foley then found Martin for a layup to give the Bobcats an 11-point lead and Martin her double-double.
Foley, who dropped 24 points and 14 rebounds in the first matchup between these squads would get into double digits just over four minutes into the fourth making a contested jumper and putting Quinnipiac up 12, their largest lead of the afternoon.
A Tarul three-pointer over Sollenne cut the lead to six with just over 30 seconds left in regulation but Quinnipiac would go 3-4 from the line. This forced Tarul to miss consecutive threes to seal the victory for the Bobcats.
Marist’s 42 points were the third-lowest total by an opponent against the Bobcats all year as Quinnipiac held the St. Peters Peacocks to 39 and 40 points respectively earlier this season.
The Bobcats’ next contest will be Tuesday, March. 12 in the first round of the MAAC Tournament in Atlantic City, New Jersey against St. Peters. Marist will take on Mount St. Mary’s later that same day.
