Quinnipiac downs Monmouth 67-38, Strautmane makes history

Chris Dacey, Basketball beat reporter
January 12, 2019

The margin of victory for the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team over the Monmouth Hawks was not the most impressive feat of the day. The 67-38 win was overshadowed by senior forward Paula Strautmane, who scored the 1000th  point of her career in a Bobcat uniform.

“It’s just really cool,” Strautmane said. “Especially on alumni day because a couple of a people who are on those banners are here today and to follow Aryn McClure and Jen Fay its really cool and it just shows how even we are throughout the team.”

Strautmane joins two of her teammates who already reached the 1000-point mark in their careers in Hamden. But the senior and her coach both thought it was fitting that many other Quinnipiac players who reached that mark were in the arena for Alumni Day.

“It’s a bit of irony that she did it on alumni day when it’s a day you celebrate the past and you look towards the future and your living in the moment that this senior class that has a long way to go,” head coach Tricia Fabbri said. “You get your third player to score 1000 points and what they have meant to the program already before it’s all said and done. So, it’s a bit of irony that we get to celebrate it today.”

When asked for her reaction of Strautmane reaching the milestone, Fabbri said she was relieved and the first words that she said were “Thank goodness.”

“She said she wasn’t feeling the heat of it, but I think in the back of her mind it was just there for a little while,” Fabbri said. “I’m glad she got it, everyone was thrilled and now we get to celebrate it. It’s a big deal obviously.”

Another milestone that was reached today was the 35th straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win for the Bobcats, tying Marist for the longest streak. As impressive as a streak is, Fabbri is already looking forward to the next one.

“You just want to win the game your playing and we’re excited that we have been able to string 35 together but we’re looking for 36,” Fabbri said. “It’s a great accomplishment but we are just looking at just one at a time and looking to the next.”

Fabbri went on to explain how much this senior class with the core of McClure, Fay, and Strautmane has meant to her and her program. And like always, Fabbri emphasized that the success they have achieved was never given, it was earned.

“How well they are on both sides of the ball and they are committed to the effort and the intensity and the pride they take in their own defensive matchups and how they play team defense over the course of the year,” Fabbri said.

At about the halfway point in the season, Fabbri is pleased with her team’s play but she knows they have the chance to be great. Fabbri says her team is aware of this and said her team has traits you can’t coach.

“I think their intention is listening and getting better and that’s why they are very good,” Fabbro said.  “They know they’re not great yet and they have the eagerness and desire to be great when it matters most and that’s the beauty of the seniors and this team.”

Quinnipiac is back in action on Friday night against Niagara.