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After losing their entire starting five to graduation, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team will
have a new look when they host Drexel in Tuesday’s season opener.

Forward Paula Strautmane, guard Edel Thornton, guard Brittany Martin, forward Aryn McClure and forward Jen Fay have all graduated. Last season this starting five scored over 1700 points for the Bobcats leading them to a MAAC championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

Although they’re the reigning MAAC champions and graduated their entire starting lineup, the
Bobcats landed second spot in the preseason conference poll behind Marist. Head coach Tricia Fabbri thought it was a fair assessment and is excited to see what her roster can do this year.

“We’re certainly excited about what we can do with this roster this year day by day getting
better,” Fabbri said. “I thought it was a fair assessment.”

Fabbri is looking forward to seeing which players will grow, how the juniors transform into
seniors, and freshman taking the jump into sophomores with experience. Having the experience
on the team allows them to fall into different expanded roles to help the team chase another
championship.

“It’s been about growing and getting better everyday with talent and we are just now filling in
the experience, the real game experience and looking to fill that vacuum,” said Fabbri.

Learning the defensive roles is something the team is working on leading up to the season. The
core group of players who graduated knew their defensive roles by heart, but players who are
forced into new roles this season are working on consistent defense during practices and in the
preseason.

While working on defense, Fabbri is confident in their offense this year. The Bobcats have
multiple players who can shoot the ball from beyond the arc which will make their offense
potent.

“This year I think with our overall ability to score the ball with multiple players one through five I
think we can become very offensively potent. Our point guards are Mackenzie DeWees and Shaq
Edwards and they bring a different dimension to us offensively with the ball in their hands,” said
Fabbri.

Taylor Herd was one of the impactful players coming off the bench last year. This year however
she is slated to be in the starting lineup and help lead her team to more wins. Transitioning from
a bench player to a starter involves changing mindsets, something that has been challenging to
Herd.

“It’s definitely been challenging especially as a mindset because I think I need to take more shots
this year than I did last year. It’s just being more aggressive on offense and trying to fill the roles
that we lost with Aryn McClure and Paula Strautmane so just really, it’s a change of mindset
than anything,” said Herd.

Fabbri and the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team looks to start off their season on the right note as they host Drexel Tuesday, Nov. 5 in the People’s United Center at 6 p.m.

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