By Morey Hershgordon
For all you mid-major women’s basketball junkies out there, which I know is a select few, you’re in for quite the treat Monday afternoon. The Quinnipiac University Bobcats will take on the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles for the first time in school history in the championship game of the 22nd Saint Joseph’s Hawk Classic. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Three Keys to the Game:
Contain Whitney Knight
When you think of Kevin Durant, you think…well…maybe…oh forget it. You get my point. Whitney Knight is the real deal. With more than 120 scholarship offers in high school, she chose to play at FGCU over Duke, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Averaging 15.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, Young has already began racking up the accolades this season. She was named the Preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, the Atlantic Sun Player of the Week (12/1), and Tournament MVP of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Listed as a guard at 6-foot-3, she is a do-it-all type player. She displayed her talents on Sunday against Cal St. Northridge finishing with 27 points, eight rebounds, six blocks, three assists and three steals.
Isolation set for the Bobcats
When the Bobcats need to score, Tricia Fabbri likes to go to an isolation set. It usually begins with Nikoline Ostergaard, a 5-foot-11 guard, backing down a defender on the left side of the court. Either she gets a good look herself or she kicks the ball to the opposite wing once the help defense collapses on her by the block or the paint.
Aside from Knight at 6-foot-3, the remainder of the Eagles starting lineup consists of two players listed at 5-foot-7, one listed at 5-foot-8 and one listed at 5-foot-9. If Knight were to guard Ostergaard, Jasmine Martin and “Boo” Abshire have run this set.
It would be interesting to see if Fabbri would allow Guastella, listed at 6-foot-1, to handle the ball in this situation. If the Eagles were to play more of their bench (two taller players), Fabbri would absolutely have no problems.
Seize the moment
It’s not often that a team can play for a championship in the middle of its season, let alone head into a brand new “year” as champions. With Quinnipiac finishing up its non-conference schedule and FGCU only having one more before Atlantic Sun play, both teams will be fighting hard for one last quality out-of-conference win.
Both programs are hoping to stay alive in the “at-large bid” conversation if either were to fall in their respective conference tournaments come March.
