Quinnipiac University
Army
QU Women's Basketball Downs Reigning Patriot League Champs Army, 79-64, in 2014-15 Season Opener
11/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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HAMDEN, Conn. – If the result of Saturday's game is any indication, big plans are in store for the Quinnipiac women's basketball team in the 2014-15 campaign.
Facing the reigning Patriot League champs Army, the Bobcats dominated the Black Knights with a 79-64 victory at home to kickoff the new season.
Ranked 24th in the College Insider Women's Mid-Major Top 25 poll, the unranked Bobcats took it their counterpart on Saturday to win their third straight season opener and seven of their last eight under head coach Tricia Fabbri. The dominating win also moves coach Fabbri ever closer to 300 career wins as she now stands at 295 in her 20th season at Quinnipiac.
This senior-laden Bobcat roster contributed in a big way to Saturday's victory, starting with Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark) who was all over the court, notching a game-high 18 points (5-9 FG, 8-10 FT) and eight rebounds while matching her career high with five assists. Ostergaard's big 13-point second half helped secure Quinnipiac the victory as she was perfect from the floor (3-of-3) and at the free-throw line (7-of-7).
Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, N.J.) helped build the Bobcats' an eight-point lead at halftime as she scored 13 points, including three three-pointers in the first half of play. She finished the game with 15 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
University of Michigan transfer Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Mass.) was stellar in her debut with the Bobcats, chipping in 13 points (6-10 FG) with four rebounds and two blocks in 26 minutes. Senior Gillian Abshire (Washington, D.C.) also chipped in a fine all-around game with nine points (4-6 FG), seven rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Play started with baskets back-and-forth as the two teams traded the lead seven times and had a tied score on five occasions. Quinnipiac began to separate from the Black Knights with a Guastella three-pointer with 9:18 remaining in the first half. Guastella once again struck with a three less than two minutes later and sophomore Morgan Manz (Southbury, Conn.) drained her first of two shots from long range to give Quinnipiac their largest lead of the first half, 30-21.
Coming out of the locker room with a 39-31 advantage, the Bobcats continued to add to their lead with baskets from Guastella, Driscoll and Abshire to make it 45-31.
Army attempted to mount a comeback as the lead shrunk to seven points, 51-44, with a made jumper from Dani Failor with just over 12 minutes remaining.
Despite the second half surge from the Black Knights, Abshire banged in a big three pointer on the fast break to put the Bobcats back up by 12 points and nullify Army's run.
Throughout the remainder of the game, Army would only get to within nine points of the lead before the Bobcats went on an 11-1 run that gave Quinnipiac their largest lead of the game, 76-56. Ostergaard played big in helping seal the victory, scoring nine of her 18 points in the final 6-plus minutes of play.
One of the biggest keys of the game for Quinnipiac came to fruition as the Bobcats held the two-time defending Patriot League Player of the Year Kelsey Minato to just 27.8 percent shooting (5-of-18) and 22.2 percent (2-of-9) from long range. The high-octane junior guard, who's coming off a season in which she averaged 22.0 points per game which ranked 17th in the nation, was held to just 18 points thanks to the suffocating tag-team defense of Ostergaard and senior Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, N.J.).
As a team, the Black Knights shot just 34.5 percent for the game while the Bobcats had it going as they finished the game shooting 50.9 percent as a unit, 40 percent from long range and 68.2 percent from the charity stripe.
Saturday's game also marked the return of the Bobcats' famed "Gold Rush" that was used frequently in Quinnipiac's run to the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Coach Fabbri subbed five players in-and-out throughout the game, mimicking a line change in hockey.
In all, 15 players saw game action for Quinnipiac including freshman guard Brittany Johnson (Pickerington, Ohio) who scored the first four points of her collegiate career. Sophomores Morgan Manz and Brianah Ramos (Montgomery, N.Y.) also played big roles in the "Gold Rush" attack for Quinnipiac as they finished with eight and five points, respectively.
Quinnipiac returns to action on Tuesday night from Hamden as the Bobcats welcome the No. 4 ranked team in the Mid-Major poll Hampton at 5:00 pm from Lender Court.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
