By: Sierra Goodwill
The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Nov. 27 to the Temple Owls (3-1) in North Philadelphia. After controlling the lead for over 33 minutes of the game, the Bobcats’ couldn’t hang on in the fourth quarter, falling 71-68.
Quinnipiac was picked at No. 4 in the most recent College Insider Mid-Major Poll coming into this matchup, riding a four game winning streak. On the other hand, Temple entered this game with a chip on its shoulder after falling to No. 16 Florida 83-76. It was bound to be a nail biter, but here are three things that emerged from Sunday’s game.
A rivalry in the making?
The last three times Quinnipiac and Temple have played no game has been decided by a margin larger than three. Last season, the Bobcats and Owls split the two times they met. Nov. 24, 2015 Quinnipiac outlasted Temple 58-56 in Hamden. Then, in the second round of the WNIT Tournament, the Owls got their revenge, winning 64-62 on the Bobcats’ home court. This time around, it was an even matchup again, with the largest lead of the game only eight points in favor of the Bobcats. Quinnipiac shot 38.5 percent from the field, and Temple 36.4 percent. Head coach Tricia Fabbri isn’t quite convinced that it’s a rivalry yet, but likes the competitiveness of the game. Redshirt sophomore Jen Fay, however, disagrees.
Fabbri: “It’s just been a great game for us to have on our schedule. It’s great competition and a well-played game. It’s one that we’re just disappointed that we didn’t close out. (Tanaya) Atkinson was a beast on the boards; we just couldn’t contain her. They hit incredible shots to go out and earn the victory. That’s why they’re good.”
Fay: “Without a doubt (it’s a rivalry). The tenaciousness of the game, we want to win so bad when we play them and they want to win too. I didn’t think about (the WNIT game) once. It’s definitely a rivalry now.”
Fay had the hot hand
The 6-foot forward had a breakout performance on Sunday afternoon, demolishing her previous career-high 11 points by scoring an impressive 26 points. Fay shot 76.9 percent from the field, including three buckets from behind the arc. She was also consistent throughout, scoring 13 points in both halves on 10-13 shooting. After sitting out last year, Fay proved to be the dagger for the Bobcats’ when they needed her most. Aryn McClure and Paula Strautmane, two players who usually can fill up the stat sheet, only combined for six points. Strautmane got in severe foul trouble, finishing with four total, which constricted her to just 12 minutes of play. Fay had not trouble stepping up in her absence and her coach commended her impressive efforts and versatility.
Fabbri: “She was incredible. She was doing it from the outside and then we were able to go in and find her on the mismatch on the inside. She certainly kept us in the game from wire to wire.”
Fay: “It was all about the mismatches today. I think whoever had the point guard for (Temple), we sent them to the block and it just happened to be me a lot and I just took advantage. The flow of the game was good, scoring early is nice, but I wish it would have came with a win.”
Quinnipiac couldn’t close it out
The fourth quarter proved to be the difference in this game. Temple got its first lead since the opening minutes of the game with less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Owls also had four threes in the final frame, with three of them coming from Junior Alliya Butts, who finished with 24 points on 7-17 shooting from the field. Temple tends to play four guards and press defense, which forced Quinnipiac into six second-half turnovers. One of those turnovers came from Carly Fabbri after Adily Martucci made a layup for Quinnipiac to tie the score at 66 with just 1:36 to go; a huge swing of momentum late in the game in Temple’s favor. Coach Fabbri was disappointed in her squad not being able to outlast Temple in the closing minutes, as she knows they had the ability to do so.
Fabbri: “They’re big, strong and athletic young ladies and (the press) definitely bothered us. We were so close to getting a big road win against a really good team. We gave up second chance shots. It’s just about being grittier, tighten everything up that we’re doing and making sure we’re the ones closing out games like we were able to do a couple weeks ago against Dayton. Today we were unable to come up with that rebound, stop, or control that ball against the pressure and go down and make a play.”
Fay: “I think we just needed to settle down on the press break a little bit, that’s what really gave us trouble. We’ve been in a lot of close games over the years and we were fully confident that we were going to pull out the win. They hit some lucky shots at the end, honestly, that’s pretty much it.”
Quinnipiac kicks of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play on Thursday, Dec. 1 against Saint Peter’s in Jersey City.
