ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Playing its second game in as many days, the No. 7 seed Quinnipiac women’s basketball team fell to the No. 2-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles 70-56, in the 2024 MAAC Championship quarterfinal round, thus ending the Bobcats’ season.
“We hung in there as long as we could,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “Love this team, love this year’s coaching. One of my most enjoyable years coaching.”
The Purple Eagles put on a clinic defensively, pressing the Bobcats right from the opening tip. The pressure forced Quinnipiac into a season-high 35 turnovers, marking the third time this season they’ve turned the ball over 30 or more times against Niagara this season alone.
“Niagara plays such a great style of basketball,” Fabbri said. “It’s very different. You don’t see it all the time so it’s tough to prepare for.”
“We knew going into the game that Niagara was going to turn us over,” junior forward Grace LaBarge said. “Just next play and get back on defense.”
The game was competitive in the first half, with both sides capitalizing on each other’s mistakes. Sophomore forward Ella O’Donnell was the main reason the Bobcats kept it close, posting her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.
Playing a physical overtime game the day before, the Bobcats showed signs of fatigue with some unforced errors, such as throwing the ball away out of bounds and five-second violations trying to inbound the ball.
“I’ve always known and Coach always says the game is going to be a physical game,” LaBarge said on Niagara. “If we turn it over, just next play.”
First-year guard Karson Martin played 39 minutes against Niagara after playing the full 45 against Saint Peter’s on Tuesday. First-year guard Ava Sollenne played 35 minutes after playing 45 and O’Donnell played 33 minutes the day after playing 28.
Martin led Quinnipiac with 15 points, 11 of them coming in the second half. LaBarge scored all 11 of her points in the second half and chipped in 11 rebounds, for the first double-double of her career.
First-year forward Anna Foley struggled in both games in Atlantic City. The second-team All-MAAC selection had just two points against Niagara and scored 12 total points in the entire tournament.
Defensively, the Bobcats played solid and forced the Purple Eagles into 20 turnovers. It was on the offensive end that gave Fabbri’s group some issues.
“We match up pretty well, but too many turnovers in a row opened the lead to 10 and we could never get our footing once again,” Fabbri said.
At the end of the day, the young Bobcats roster couldn’t get over the hump against the experienced Purple Eagles and will have an offseason of growth to get better and improve upon this year’s quarterfinals exit.
“We knew that graduating six last year and having the seven come in, there was going to be that challenge of blending youth with upperclassmen,” Fabbri said. “Their maturity to be able to handle and prepare everything coming our way was something I was so grateful for.
“One thing we said in the locker room was how dangerous we’re going to be in the next year and three years,” Martin said. “I think we have a lot ahead of us.”
