QU Women’s Basketball Drops MAAC Opener at Marist, 56-47

Thursday, December 3

McCann Field House - Poughkeepsie, NY

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-3 (0-1MAAC)

Marist

1-7 (1-0MAAC)

Quinnipiac

Marist

QU Women’s Basketball Drops MAAC Opener at Marist, 56-47

12/3/2015 10:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Empty possessions on offense combined with a strong inside presence from their conference rival told the story for the Quinnipiac women's basketball team on Thursday night as the Bobcats dropped their 2015-16 MAAC opener, 56-47, at Marist. Quinnipiac falls to 4-3 overall while the Red Foxes pick up their first win of 2015-16 to move to 1-7 on the season.

A tremendous matchup to begin the Bobcats' 20-game MAAC regular season slate, the Thursday night meeting set up as the highly-anticipated rematch of the 2015 MAAC Championship game won by Quinnipiac.

The Marist defense was the story of the game as the Bobcats were held to their fewest points in a game since falling to Monmouth, 55-36, on March 5, 2011 in the NEC Quarterfinals.

Playing in front of a packed crowd at the McCann Field House, Marist's defense fed off the energy and limited the Bobcats to their worst shooting performance (27.4 FG%) since December 4, 2013 against Hartford where Quinnipiac finished 26.9 percent from the floor.

Maria Napolitano (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the lone Bobcat to hit double figures as she finished with 13 points in 26 minutes. Napolitano's fourth straight double digit scoring game didn't come easy as the senior guard went 5-of-15 from the floor and finished with just one three-pointer.

Katie Carroll (Westlake, Ohio) played a key role on the defensive end as she made life difficult on 2014-15 All-MAAC First Teamer Tori Jarosz in the paint all evening. Carroll finished with six points and six offensive rebounds in 23 minutes while holding Jarosz below 50 percent from the floor in her 36 minutes of action.

As much as the Marist defense shined, the Bobcat offense, specifically the three-point shot, was firing on all cylinders early. Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Connecticut) silenced the Marist crowd after just 31 seconds as she took a Brittany Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey) pass and canned a deep three-pointer for the first points of the game.

The three-point shot continued to fall for the Bobcats in first quarter as Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut), Carroll and Brittany Johnson (Pickerington, Ohio) each hit a three-pointer to account for the first 12 points of the game for Quinnipiac.

Quinnipiac's first two-point make of the game came from Napolitano after 8:07 expired in the first quarter to put Quinnipiac ahead 16-12.

The struggles from inside the three-point line was indicative throughout the game as Marist outscored the Bobcats, 28-12, in points in the paint. Twenty-one of the Bobcats' 47 total points came from behind the arc as Quinnipiac finished just 10-for-38 on their two-point field goal attempts in the game.

The back-and-forth play continued throughout the end of the first quarter and into the second as Carroll grabbed an offensive rebound and went back up for two that made it 23-20 Bobcats with 4:52 remaining in the second quarter.

After both teams went scoreless for the next two-plus minutes, the Marist offense came alive as Jarosz canned back-to-back buckets in the paint and Sydney Coffee scored four straight points to give the Red Foxes the 31-26 halftime advantage.

The 11-3 Marist run to end the first half continued into the third quarter as Marist answered a Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) three-pointer with six straight points that made it an eight-point game midway through the third.

Even with the Marist run, the lead was ripe for the taking as Marist struggled offensively with 18 turnovers and 36.8 percent shooting for the game but the Bobcats weren't able to capitalize on their defensive stands with points on the offensive end.

The Marist lead trimmed down to as few as eight points midway through the fourth quarter but just four Quinnipiac points over the last 5:29 sealed the Marist victory.

Jarosz tallied 16 points (6-14 FG), 14 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Marist attack while Coffey, a Preseason First Team All-MAAC selection, also struggled from the floor on her way to 13 points (4-10 FG, 0-4 3FG) with five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Allie Clement added a big 13 points for Marist as the sophomore guard finished with three three-point makes.

Quinnipiac continues MAAC play on Sunday, December 6 as the Bobcats look to extend their home winning streak against Manhattan at 2 PM.