Quinnipiac University
Texas
Women's Basketball Opens Gulf Coast Showcase Against #9/10 Texas
11/22/2018 1:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Bobcats and Longhorns Meet for First Time
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS (2-1, 0-0 MAAC) vs. Texas Longhorns (3-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Watch | Live Stats | Listen - (Bob Mortali, play-by-play; Dianne Nolan, color) | Twitter - @QU_WBB
GAME NOTES: QUINNIPIAC | TEXAS
All-Time Series vs. Texas: First All-Time Meeting
Last Meeting vs. Texas: First All-Time Meeting
ESTERO, Fla. - The Quinnipiac women's basketball team will square off with the Texas Longhorns on Friday for the first time in program history. The matchup will take place in the opening round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
Jen Fay scored 50% of the Bobcats' points in a 48-44 road victory at Providence. Fay (24 points) moved to nine points shy of the 1,000 mark for her career and added 13 rebounds in the win. Aryn McClure also added double digit points on Thursday, while Taylor Herd added nine in the effort.
FAY SAVES THE DAY
By scoring 24 of Quinnipiac's 48 points in last week's win over Providence, Jen Fay became the first Bobcat to account for 50% of the team's total points in a game since Erin Kerner did it twice in 2008 (37 pts vs. Long Island and 35 pts vs. Yale).
MILESTONE MAKERS
Quinnipiac seniors Paula Strautmane and Jen Fay both acheieved personal milestones in the season-opening win over Drexel. Strautmane scored the 900th point of her stellar career and Fay pulled down her 500th career rebound as she also inches closer to 1,000 career points (967)
SCOUTING TEXAS
Freshman Charli Collier set a new career-high in scoring, recording a 15-point and six-rebound performance, as Texas (3-0) defeated McNeese State (0-3), 96-40, on Thursday night at the Frank Erwin Center. Graduate transfer Danni Williams also posted her best outing in Burnt Orange, contributing 14 points while shooting at a 4-for-6 clip from three-point range. Senior guard Lashann Higgs is the current NCAA Division I leader in assist-to-turnover ratio. She currently has 13 assists to just one turnover through three games this year. Texas has held the rebound edge in each of its three games this season and ranks 18th nationally in rebound margin at +15.7. The Longhorns are bringing down an average of 48.67 boards per game. Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, Texas has won the battle of the boards in 92 of the last 108 games overall.
TOP CATS
Quinnipiac started the 2018-19 season as the top-ranked team in the national mid-major poll. Quinnipiac earned 10 first place votes, edging South Dakota State for the top spot, as announced by the College Insider committee. This is the third time in program history that the Bobcats hold the top spot in the poll.
THEY'RE BACK!
Quinnipiac returns almost the entire team that returned to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, including the two-time MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Aryn McClure (Springfield Gardens, New York) along with 2018-19 All-MAAC Preseason First Team selection and 2018 MAAC Championship MOP Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York), 2018 All-MAAC Second Team selection Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) and fellow seniors Edel Thornton and Brittany Martin, who both appeared in nearly all of Quinnipiac's contests a year ago and each averaged 5+ points per game.
STARTING STRONG
The season-opening victory at Drexel marked the fourth time in six seasons that Tricia Fabbri's squad earned a win in the opening game of the season.
HOME COOKIN'
The People's United Center, home of the Quinnipiac Bobcats, has long been one of the most difficult arenas to play at in the country. Since the 2014-15 season, Quinnipiac owns a record of 52-4 (.929) in games played at home. In that same span, the Bobcats own a mark of 38-1 (.974), in MAAC play at home.
QUINNIPIAC POLL
The Bobcats earned eight votes in the 2018-19 USA Today Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll, as announced by the USA Today Sports Board of Coaches. The Bobcats received the 39th-most votes in the national poll as their standing and total points (8) reflect the program's second-highest ranking in the USA Today Coaches' preseason poll.
PUTTING THE MAJOR IN MID-MAJOR
Tricia Fabbri's program is one of 18 programs in Division I to win three or more NCAA Tournament games in the last two seasons, and the only mid-major to accomplish the feat.
NEW CAT ON THE COURT
Fabbri, who won her 400th career game last season, welcomes new assistant coach Brian Wilson to the coaching staff. Wilson joins the Bobcats after successful stints at Holy Cross and Connecticut College. The Bobcats also welcome freshmen Mackenzie DeWees, Rachael Stovall, Amani Free, and transfer Shaq Edwards to the program. Read more about the newcomers here.
MAAC-TO-BACK
Quinnipiac enters the 2018-19 season as four-time defending MAAC regular season champions, earning the top record in conference play at 18-0 last year. Quinnipiac has dominated the league since joining in 2013-14, going 99-14 in conference play (including postseason).
LEADER OF THE PACK
Head coach Tricia Fabbri enters her 24th season leading the Bobcats in 2018-19, as the five-time Coach of the Year (third in five MAAC seasons) and all-time winningest coach in program history currently owns 408 career victories. Fabbri's Bobcats have reached the 20-win plateau in seven straight seasons, won four conference titles in the last six seasons and earned four consecutive MAAC Regular Season titles.
ANOTHER NATIONAL POSTSEASON APPEARANCE
Quinnipiac's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament last year marked the seventh straight national postseason appearance for the Bobcats and the eighth in program history. Quinnipiac earned its first national postseason appearance with a trip to Iona in the 2008 WNIT Tournament and then made a second WNIT Tournament appearance in 2012 against Temple. The first NCAA Tournament berth came in 2013 as the Bobcats earned a No. 13 seed to play at No. 4 Maryland. Quinnipiac also took home the 2015 MAAC Championship, claiming a No. 12 seed and facing No. 5 Oklahoma. In the 2014 and 2016 postseason, the Bobcats advanced to the WNIT, defeating Maine, 90-44, in 2016 for the program's first-ever postseason win.
HITTING THAT MAGIC NUMBER
Quinnipiac's 28 wins last season marked yet another 20-win campaign for Head Coach Tricia Fabbri in 2017-18. The 12th 20-win season in program history made it seven in-a-row as well as the ninth in Fabbri's 23-year coaching career at Quinnipiac. Quinnipiac is one of just 20 teams across the nation and one of six mid-major programs to record seven straight 20+ win seasons. Over those last seven complete seasons, Quinnipiac has compiled a record of 186-52 for a .782 win percentage which ranks as the 10th-best overall mark in the nation.
MAAC ATTACK
After going unbeaten in conference play last season, Quinnipiac takes a streak of 31 consecutive MAAC victories into 2018-19. The Bobcats' current streak is four games short of Marist's all-time mark of 35 straight MAAC victories (including postseason play).
THE ULTIMATE CLOSERS
Quinnipiac has enjoyed a great deal of success over the past four seasons when building a first half lead. After starting 2016-17 with a mark of 2-0 when owning a halftime lead, the Bobcats recently saw one of their most impressive streaks in program history come to an end in a 71-68 loss at Temple. Quinnipiac's three-point loss signaled the first time the Bobcats had lost a game in which they held a halftime lead since the 2014 MAAC Championship game against Marist. The undefeated streak, which lasted over the course of three seasons, came to an end at 45 straight wins for the Bobcats when holding a halftime lead. Quinnipiac went undefeated in both 2014-15 (24-0) and 2015-16 (19-0) and for the first two games of 2016-17 before suffering the defeat. Overall, however, the Bobcats went 22-2 in the 2016-17 season and 19-0 in 2017-18 to give Quinnipiac a mark of 86-2 since the start of 2014-15 in games in which Quinnipiac leads at the half.
THAT 70s SCORING SHOW
Since the 2007-08 season, Quinnipiac is 153-15 (.911) in games where the Bobcats score 70 or more points, including 77-2 (.975) combined since 2014-15. During 2017-18 (20-0), 2016-17 (16-0), 2012-13 (18-0) and 2010-11 (8-0), the Bobcats compiled undefeated records in each respective season when reaching the 70-point scoring plateau. Quinnipiac has improved its current win streak in those contests to 45 in a row (the last defeat was a 71-70 loss in overtime to Florida Gulf Coast in 2015-16 - the last regulation loss was to Oklahoma in the 2015 NCAA Tournament).
Quinnipiac's Record in Games Scoring 70+ Points Since 07-08
Season Record
2017-18 20-0
2016-17 16-0
2015-16 13-1
2014-15 28-1
2013-14 14-6
2012-13 18-0
2011-12 9-3
2010-11 8-0
2009-10 5-2
2008-09 11-1
2007-08 11-1
Total (10+ Seasons) 153-15 (.911)
Assist/Turnover Ratio Last Six Seasons
Season Games APG TPG A/TO NCAA CONF
2012-13 33 16.9 14.5 1.17 10th 1st (NEC)
2013-14 34 16.3 13.1 1.24 20th 2nd (MAAC)
2014-15 35 19.6 13.3 1.47 5th 1st (MAAC)
2015-16 34 15.4 14.9 1.03 51st 2nd (MAAC)
2016-17 36 16.2 14.7 1.11 46th 1st (MAAC)
2017-18 34 16.4 12.6 1.41 11th 1st (MAAC)
NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will continue competition in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Florida with a second round matchup against either Michigan or #20 Missouri on Saturday.
