By: Shane Dennehy
On Super Bowl Sunday, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team welcomed the Iona Gaels into Hamden as the Bobcats went for the season sweep.
Quinnipiac scored a season-high 90 points on its way to beating Iona 90-47. The Bobcats have now won four straight games against the Gaels.
The Bobcats started the game quickly with a seven-zero run which forced the Gaels to call a timeout less than three minutes into the game.
Carly Fabbri scored four of the Bobcats first seven points to start the game. She hit back-to-back layups for Quinnipiac. Fabbri made a transition layup off an Iona turnover, and on the ensuing possession she cut to the basket and layed the ball in after she got the pass from Aryn McClure.
When Quinnipiac found out that Vanessa Udoji would miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the Quinnipiac coaching staff went to Fabbri and told her that they needed her to step up and Fabbri has responded well.
“The coaches came to me and said, ‘we are going to expect a little more from you’,” Fabbri said. “I felt the ownest on me to step it up a little bit more offensively.”
Fabbri finished Sunday’s game with nine points and six assists. The senior point guard is the Bobcats floor general and she is always helping get her teammates in the right position on the court.
Paula Strautmane has also been a player who has stepped up of late. Strautmane has experienced foul trouble in her past, but this season she has done a better job of staying on the court.
Sunday Strautmane did not commit a foul and she was able to help contribute to her team’s win. Strautmane led all scorers with 19 points, which was just one point less than her season high.
Quinnipiac’s post players were able to take advantage of Iona’s slower and less athletic post players. The Gaels’ Treyanna Clay and Rebekah Justice were unable to matchup with Strautmane and Jaden Ward.
For the fourth time this season, Ward set a new career-high in points. Although Ward did not play a lot last season, she was still able to go against Sarah Shewan, Strautmane, Aryn McClure and Jen Fay in practice.
Ward also learned some things from the more experienced post players on the Quinnipiac roster.
“Paige (Warfel) and Jaden (Ward) answered every challenge that has been given to them and the second half tonight was a big one,” Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri said.
Brittany Martin struggled to find playing time at the beginning of the season but since the Bobcats went back to their “gold rush,” which is five players in, five players out, Martin has run the Bobcats second unit.
“(Martin’s) game has really allowed us to go back and be really effective in that (gold) rush,” Fabbri said.
Quinnipiac went away from its “gold rush” last season but Fabbri and her staff thought that her starters were playing to many minutes, and decided to bring it back.
“When we were finishing up the Marist game we had a lot of players playing a lot of minutes,” Fabbri said. “We knew we had the whole season ahead of us. Our sophomores were ready and we have not looked back since.”
Fabbri thinks that going back to the “gold rush” is helping her and her teammates stay fresh against teams that do not have the luxury of having a deep bench.
“I think we wear teams down,” Carly said. “It’s hard to play against a team that likes to go up and down. For every two or two and a half minutes to have a whole new lineup to come in. I’m sure it’s just devastating for the other team.”
Quinnipiac will have four days off before it welcomes the Canisius Golden Griffins into Hamden on Friday night.
The Bobcats and Golden Griffs will tip-off at 5 p.m.
