Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Tom Cunningham
One game stands between the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team and a second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship. No. 1 Quinnipiac picked up its 19th straight victory in the MAAC semifinals taking down No. 5 Monmouth Hawks, 66-59.
Although the Bobcats won the game, the team suffered an even bigger loss with the knee injury to senior captain Maria Napolitano.
Napolitano left the game in the second quarter, and returned briefly before leaving the game for good just before halftime. The Bobcats rallied for their captain and found a way to win, fighting through the adversity like they have done so many times this season.
“We’ve responded so positively to adversity today and it’s a microcosm of how we’ve handled adversity; down 10 to Marist in the second half, down 11 to Iona, tough losses, and finding a way,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
“Credit this team, time and again in tough situations to how we respond to adversity.”
With Napolitano out, Quinnipiac needed other players to step up and fill the void, which is exactly what they got from freshmen Aryn McClure and Paula Strautmane. The two combined for 21 points and 20 rebounds. The two freshmen standouts also contributed two blocks each, and were tasked with shutting down 6-foot-4 center Christina Mitchell. Mitchell was limited to just four points and eight rebounds, both short of her season averages of six points and nine rebounds per game.
“We all just had to box out. I felt that we did a pretty good job of keeping her off the boards a little bit,” McClure said. “In the second half we did a better job executing more box outs than we did in the first half.”
The Bobcats were able to use their arsenal of different scoring threats to stymie a Hawks’ upset attempt. Eight different players scored for Fabbri’s squad, that was led by Morgan Manz who finished with a team high 13 points, including going 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The Bobcats shot over 79 percent from the free throw line, well above their season average.
Despite a solid afternoon from the line, it was a missed free throw that led to perhaps the biggest basket of the afternoon for Quinnipiac. With just under three minutes to play Brittany Johnson missed her second free throw attempt with Quinnipiac leading by just four. McClure secured the rebound and found Johnson who buried the three to put the Bobcats up by seven, their largest lead of the game until that point.
“It was the biggest play of the game,” Fabbri said. “For Brittany to hit it, for Aryn to track it down, it obviously gave us the separation that we needed for the last minute and a half of the game. It was a momentous individual effort.”
With Napolitano out, Monmouth was able to hang around with Quinnipiac for much of the game, but with Fabbri’s experience and the depth of her team the Bobcats were able to dominate the fourth quarter en route to clinching a spot in the MAAC Championship.
“Quinnipiac just has so many weapons that we didn’t have to change anything,” Monmouth head coach Jenny Palmateer said. “They still have shooters, they still have size, they can still score from the three-point line, they can still go inside. I think that they did a really good job kind of rallying around the fact that (Napolitano) couldn’t go out there anymore. They had a few people play really well in her absence. It’s a credit to them and the depth they have.”
As for Monmouth, seniors Sarah Olson and Jasmine Walker led the way with 18 and 11 points respectively. Losing in the semifinals is never planned, but Monmouth leaves with reasons to be optimistic after taking down Fairfield in the quarterfinals, and taking top-seeded Quinnipiac down to the wire.
Up next for Quinnipiac is No. 2 seed Iona. The Gaels defeated the No. 3 seed Marist Red Foxes. Napolitano presumably will not be in the lineup for the championship, but her presence will still be felt.
“We’re not new to championship games, so I think that is something I can provide for my team even though I won’t be taking the floor,” Napolitano said. “We just have to stick to our game plan and take it one possession at a time.”
Fabbri and her team take the floor at the Times Union Center on Monday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU.
