Quinnipiac University
Hartford
QU Women's Basketball Holds Off Late Hartford Rally Attempt to Win Sixth Straight, 70-58
12/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Holding a clear scoring edge throughout, the Quinnipiac women's basketball team overcame a late Hartford rally attempt to defeat the Hawks, 70-58, on Sunday afternoon from Chase Family Arena. The Bobcats' sixth straight win is also their first road win over Hartford since Dec. 7, 1982 and gives Quinnipiac an overall record of 9-2 heading into the week-long Christmas break.
Quinnipiac dominated this intra-state contest as the Bobcats never trailed and led by as many as 21 points late in the second half. Despite a furious 13-0 Hartford run late in the second half, the Bobcats proved their mettle and came away with the convincing win. The victory moves the Bobcats to 13-9 in the all-time series against Hartford and snaps a three-game losing streak on the road facing the Hawks.
Much praise belongs to the Quinnipiac bench as six substitutes combined for 29 points, the most bench points scored by the Bobcats in any game this season. The interior battle also belonged to Quinnipiac as the Bobcats outscored the Hawks, 32-20, in the paint on Sunday including a 24-6 edge in the first half alone.
Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Mass.) led the Bobcats in scoring with 16 points to go along with 12 rebounds and three blocks. Driscoll's double-double is her second of the season as well as the second of her career.
Three more Bobcats reached double figures including a season-high 13 points from Maria Napolitano (Cincinnati, Ohio). Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey) came close to notching a double-double as she finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey) rounded out the double-digit scoring list with 10 points of her own, upping her streak of 10+ points to four games.
Quinnipiac's defense set the tone in this one as the Bobcats held Hartford to just 26.9 percent shooting in the first half and 33.9 percent for the game. The Bobcats' interior defense also gave Hartford's leading scorer Cherelle Moore all sorts of fits as the senior forward finished with just five points on 1-for-9 shooting (11.1 percent), good enough for her lowest scoring output of the season.
Showing no ill effects of the daunting stretch that had the Bobcats play three games in seven days, Quinnipiac's offense was firing on all cylinders in the first half. Starting with back-to-back midrange jumpers from Martin to spot the Bobcats an early lead, the crucial early run came from the Bobcats' "Gold Rush" as head coach Tricia Fabbri's second unit scored six straight points while holding Hartford scoreless for 3:37.
Napolitano and Brianah Ramos (Montgomery, New York) each scored before Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) scored four points of her own as the Quinnipiac reserves spotted the starting lineup a six-point lead, 14-8, in a little under four minutes of action.
With the Quinnipiac starters back in the game, the Bobcats fed the post and began to dominate the Hawk defenders in the paint. Five straight buckets in the paint helped Quinnipiac build an 11-point lead before Guastella started raining in threes to build a 35-22 advantage.
Throughout the final five minutes of the first half, the Bobcats managed to overcome significant foul trouble (14 in first half) to close the stanza on a 7-1 run. Guastella drained her third three-point basket of the half followed by buckets from Ramos and Driscoll to give Quinnipiac the 44-29 halftime lead.
Quinnipiac's first half shooting percentage of 64.5 percent (20-for-31) is the best field goal percentage for the Bobcats in a half this season. Their previous season-best came in the season opener when the Bobcats shot 60.9 percent in the second half against Army.
Continuing to hold the double digit advantage throughout the second half, the Hawks began to mount a furious comeback with less than six minutes remaining. After Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) converted a three-point play to put the Bobcats ahead, 65-45, the Hawks scored 13 straight points in a matter of 3:45 to lower the deficit to just seven points.
As soon as the crowd started to sense some hope at pulling off the miraculous comeback, Quinnipiac proved their mettle and pulled out the big stops on the defensive end and clutch makes from the free throw line. Hartford was held scoreless for the final 1:58 of play while Quinnipiac hit five-of-six from the charity stripe to close out the 70-58 victory.
Quinnipiac closes out 2014 with the final two non-conference games of the season as the Bobcats travel down to Philadelphia for the Hawk Classic. The Bobcats open the two-game tournament against the host St. Joseph's on Sunday, Dec. 28 at 2:00 pm and will face either Florida Gulf Coast or Cal State Northridge in the second game on Monday, Dec. 29.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
