Photo courtesy Quinnipiac Athletics
By: Shane Dennehy
Quinnipiac, once again, got off to a slow start against the Niagara Purple Eagles. Niagara used their size and strength down low to gain an early lead against the Bobcats, leading 14-11 after the first quarter.
Jen Fay knew Quinnipiac’s defense was good enough to keep the Bobcats in the game and give them an opportunity to win.
“I think we’ve been starting games slow this season, but we know that our defense is going to come and save us from that, so we turn it up on the defensive end and turn it on offense,” Fay said.
Two players that hurt Quinnipiac earlier this season against Niagara were Kaylee Stroemple who had 26 points and Victoria Rampado who had 12 points.
Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri knew that her team’s defense needed to battle hard in order to slow Stroemple down.
“I thought our players rose to the challenge and made it just a little more difficult for either them to touch the ball or when they did get it not just catch and rip,” Fabbri said.
The Quinnipiac defense did all they could to slow down Rampado who had 17 points and Stroemple who had 10 points.
With the use of the Gold Rush, it’s unknown who is going to step up for the Bobcats on any given night. Thursday, it was sophomore point guard Edel Thornton.
The Ireland native set a career-high with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. This may come as a surprise to many as Thornton is only averaging 2.8 points per game this season.
“Once you start knocking some shots, it makes me less conservative. When I’m open, I’ll shoot the shot,” Thornton said.
Fabbri was happy to see her guard succeed.
“It’s so rewarding to see Edel have a great night for us and really get us going.”
The Bobcats have had nine different leading scorers this season. Quinnipiac’s depth has been one of their biggest strengths over the past couple of seasons.
“That’s been our strength, that’s been our M.O. for a number of years,” Fabbri said.
Quinnipiac would pull away late from the Purple Eagles, as the Bobcats would win 61-45. Quinnipiac has now won their last two MAAC games after falling to Monmouth last week.
Fabbri has set the tone of taking it one game at a time.
“The most important game that you’re going to play is the next one on the schedule.”
The team has one day off before traveling down to New Rochelle, N.Y. to take on the Iona Gaels at 2 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s MAAC championship game.
