By: Morey Hershgordon
Tricia Fabbri paced the sideline and looked up. Her team walked back onto the floor out of potentially the final media timeout of her team’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference season. Trailing by two points with all signs pointing to upset-minded No. 8 seed Canisius, Quinnipiac made sure that it locked in. There was still enough time.
The Bobcats held the Golden Griffins without a field goal during the last 4:34 of Friday’s quarterfinal game, closed it on an 8-1 run and ran away with a 63-58 come-from-behind win at Times Union Center.
“Canisius is always a gritty team,” Carly Fabbri said. “They always play us pretty tough. Obviously I believed in my team that we were going to get the lead, I just didn’t know at what point that was going to be.”
Adily Martucci drilled a baseline jump shot knotting the game at 57. On the ensuing Quinnipiac possession, it ran its most lethal offensive set with 1:44 left: an isolation for Ayrn McClure on the left wing with shooters and playmakers around the perimeter.
As McClure backed down her defender, she felt another defender sliding over to double team her. The sophomore rifled a skip pass to the opposite wing which found Fabbri wide open. The captain’s fourth 3-pointer was all nylon, breaking the tie and putting Quinnipiac ahead for good.
“I think anytime we run that play, isolation, we do a pretty good job of getting to an open player.” Fabbri said. “Ayrn (McClure) is such a good playmaker. She’s very hard to guard.”
“Shooters shoot. I was open, I was confident in taking the shot.”
The junior’s gutsy performance is the epitome of Quinnipiac women’s basketball. When it matters most, it delivers.
Quinnipiac absorbed Canisius’ first punch in the second half and found itself down by eight points, 36-28, just 52 seconds in. During a stretch from 4:37 to 59 seconds left in third quarter, Fabbri stepped up. She knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to give Quinnipiac a 42-41 lead and then found McClure for a jumper. In total, the Bobcats ripped off 12 straight to lead by seven.
“At this time of year, and I’ve done this my entire life, you don’t take any game for granted,” the head coach said. “You’re just chipping away. You’re in the moment and you’re just doing you best to put your team in position to get the right play, the right call on the right shot offensively.”
Fabbri finished with a season-high 13 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals against zero turnovers. After tallying more than 10 points only once in the team’s first 28 games, she’s scored at least 10 points in each of the last three games.
“I never really doubted my shot, it’s just nice to see it go in, especially tournament time. I know my shot will drop, you just have to keep your mind right.”
Martucci led all scorers with 19 points, one shy of her career-high. Her big-time effort couldn’t have came at a better time.
“I definitely have to be on my game at this point (in the season),” the redshirt senior guard said. “I’m trying to be the best leader that I can be because these games are crucial. It’s one and done. Just trying to be at my best, so my teammates can be at their best is really key in order to win these games.”
The Golden Griffins, time and time again, gave the No. 1 seed all it could handle. An 18-11 advantage after the first quarter held strong as they took a five-point lead into the break. Maria Welch and Saliah Serrette combined for 29 points off the bench.
“I don’t think we underestimate anybody, especially Canisius because of how difficult they are to defend what they run. Their matchups for us defensively present a lot of problems especially watching how well they shot the ball yesterday,” Fabbri exclaimed.
Quinnipiac will have a day off to rest and regroup. Its next test will be in the MAAC semifinals against the winner of No. 4 seed Siena and No. 5 seed Iona. That game will tip on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. ET and will air live on ESPN3.
“It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” Martucci said when asked about who she’d rather play on Sunday. “Whoever is in front of us, that’s the team that we have to beat. Any team, they’re just in our way of what we want the most. Would it be nice to beat Iona in the semifinals? Absolutely. It’s nice to beat anyone.”
Quick hits:
- Adily Martucci now has 908 career points. This year she’s averaging 10.1 points. With only a few more games left in her career, it’s likely she will finish just short of the 1,000 mark.
- Sarah Shewan chipped in an important nine points and eight rebounds off the bench. Prior to the game, she was averaging 13.3 points and 10 rebounds since Feb. 19.
- With a win on Sunday in the MAAC semifinal, Quinnipiac will advance to its fifth straight conference championship game.
