By: Morey Hershgordon
The 2016-17 Quinnipiac women’s basketball team has a number of symbolic pieces meaningful to its program. One of them is a bell. The phrase, “Ring The Bell” encapsulates one of the team’s motto’s: GRIT. The acronym GRIT stands for Greatness = Resiliency, Intensity, and Toughness. The team rings the bell when it rises to a challenge and accomplishes a goal.
However, a loud bell was rung early Monday morning. And it was not the team bell.
A little after midnight, the team had to evacuate their hotel in Miami, Florida when the fire alarm went off, according to the Quinnipiac University athletics snapchat account (@BobcatsTV). The team was stranded outside the hotel for about an hour. Around 1 a.m., coaches, players and administrative staff were allowed to return back to their rooms.
The fire alarm at the @QU_WBB team hotel just went off at 12 a.m. per @QUAthletics snapchat. Team was stranded outside for close to an hour.
— Morey Hershgordon (@mahhersh) March 20, 2017
This comes the night before one of the biggest sporting events in Quinnipiac University’s history. On Monday, the No. 12 seed Bobcats face the No. 4 seed University of Miami Hurricanes in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The game is scheduled to tip at 9 p.m. ET and will be televised live on ESPN2. Then the winner is then off to California for a date with No. 1 seed South Carolina in the Sweet 16.
Fresh off it’s first NCAAT win, @QU_WBB‘s Tricia Fabbri & players talk about what the win meant to @QuinnipiacU & why they aren’t done yet. pic.twitter.com/TMEsesEUz4
— Q30 Sports (@Q30Sports) March 19, 2017
The Quinnipiac Pep Band and cheer team are currently staying in a different hotel, separate from the team.
Believe it or not, evacuating a hotel the night before a big game isn’t anything new.
On March 5, the eve of the MAAC championship game, the fire alarm at the team’s Renaissance Albany Hotel went off forcing the team to leave the hotel for a period of time. That next night, Quinnipiac went on to erase an early 10-point deficit to win its third conference championship in the last five years.
But come Monday night, all it has to do is repeat what’s it done all season long. As well as two weeks ago.
Ring the bell.
