Quinnipiac University
Niagara
QU Women's Basketball Survives Niagara, 71-68; Martin and Driscoll Each Score 21 in the Victory
1/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
- Box Score
- QU Women's Basketball Homepage
- QU Women's Basketball Schedule (Downloadable on iCalendar)
- MAAC Women's Basketball Homepage
NIAGARA UNIV., New York – Built in 1950, the Gallagher Center has seen its fair share of great games and Sunday's was no different. Those in attendance were gifted to a pulse pounding back-and-forth battle that can rival some of the best played in the historic venue.
Despite suffering through the second-worst shooting performance of the season and a career game from Niagara's Victoria Rampado, in close games like this the added value of experience cannot be understated. Guided by 62 points from the six-member Bobcat senior class, the senior-laden Quinnipiac women's basketball team (14-3, 6-0 MAAC) needed to execute down the stretch to survive a gamely Niagara (7-8, 3-3 MAAC) squad, 71-68, on Sunday from the Gallagher Center.
Leading by 10 points with four minutes remaining, Niagara hit everything down the stretch as the Purple Eagles netted points on six straight possessions in the waning minutes. Niagara's crowd hit a fever pitch as Rampado drained her first three-pointer of the season to make it a one-point game, 69-68, with 40 seconds.
Niagara's timeout after the Rampado make allowed head coach Tricia Fabbri the opportunity to draw up the play call for the Bobcats' go-to player of late Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark). Receiving the ball at the wing, Ostergaard broke down her defender on an isolation and calmly drove baseline with her left hand. As she has down all season, Ostergaard tip-toed the baseline and flinched toward the basket to create the contact and foul call.
A 70 percent shooter from the line this season, Ostergaard wasn't fazed by the pressure and calmly drained both to make it a three-point game with 11 seconds remaining. Without a timeout, Niagara pushed the ball up the floor and found Rampado open at the wing for the game-tying three attempt that fortunately hit back rim and out as the Bobcats walked away still undefeated in conference play.
Niagara proved to be quite the out for the Bobcats as the Purple Eagles posted the highest shooting percentage (58.8) of any QU opponent in 2014-15. The key stats in this one proved to be the turnover category as the Bobcats forced Niagara into 25 turnovers while Quinnipiac committed only 13 for the game. Those 26 Niagara turnovers translated into 28 points for Quinnipiac and helped overcome a lackluster shooting performance in Sunday's victory.
Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey) came up big for the Bobcats as she finished with 21 points and five made three-pointers to go along with two assists, two steals and two rebounds. Martin's 19th career 20-point game gives her an impressive 18.5 PPG average while shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from three in the Bobcats' two road games this weekend.
Joining Martin with 21 points was Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Massachusetts) as she graduate student center established a new career high on Sunday. Driscoll's 21 points came on 9-for-15 shooting while she added a team-high seven rebounds in 27 minutes.
A great deal of Driscoll's points came on uncontested layups at the rim thanks in large part to the great passing of Ostergaard and Gillian Abshire (Washington, D.C.) throughout. Ostergaard was the go-to distributor in the Bobcats' offensive sets as she tallied a career high seven assists, besting her previous high of six which she had tallied twice before. Abshire was pressured full-court throughout but her superior ball-handling skills led to six assists while she didn't commit a turnover in 29 minutes.
Not to be forgotten, Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey) continued her progression to 1,000 career points as she finished with 11 to go along with four steals. Coming into the game just 31 points away from the career milestone, Guastella now sits at 980 in her four years with the Bobcats. She drained three three-pointers on Sunday to extend her streak to 13 straight games with at least two three point field goals.
Both teams slugged through a back-and-forth battle as the lead changed hands 12 times throughout the first half while the score also tied eight times.
Trailing 17-12 less than eight minutes into the game, the Bobcats put together an 8-2 run that vaulted the score back in favor of QU. Neither side led by more than three points throughout a majority of the first stanza until the Bobcats scored eight of the last 10 points, including back-to-back three-pointers from Guastella and Martin, that gave the Bobcats the 37-32 halftime lead.
Quinnipiac came out of the gates firing in the second half as the Bobcats upped their lead to 12 points after just four minutes. Guastella and Martin again factored in buckets from behind the arc while Martin added another three to force the Niagara timeout.
The Bobcats' lead kept in double digits throughout a majority of the second half before Niagara caught fire at the end, forcing QU to hold on in the final seconds.
Niagara was led by a sensational effort from Rampado as the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year went for a career high 27 points (12-18 FG) and 14 rebounds. She was joined by Kaylee Stroemple (13 points) and Meghan McGuinness (10 points) in double figures while Kelly Val Leeuwen tallied seven assists for the Purple Eagles.
Quinnipiac now returns home where they will work their way through a three-game homestand in hopes of remaining undefeated in MAAC play. The Bobcats next take on Fairfield on Thursday at 5:00 pm in a game that will be broadcasted live on ESPN3.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
