QU Women's Basketball Ships Up to Boston for Midweek Showdown at Northeastern

Wednesday, December 9

Cabot Center - Boston, MA

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Northeastern

QU Women's Basketball Ships Up to Boston for Midweek Showdown at Northeastern

12/8/2015 5:07:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: QU Sports Information

Quinnipiac University Bobcats (4-4, 0-2 MAAC) vs.
Northeastern University Huskies (5-2, 0-0 Patriot League)
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 – 7:00 PM
Cabot Center – Boston, Massachusetts

Follow The Bobcats
Live Audio: AM 1220 WQUN (PxP: Paul Pacelli; Color: Maxx McNall)
Live Stats: GoNU.com
Live Video: Patriot League Network
QU WBB Twitter: @QU_WBB

Game Notes
Quinnipiac | Northeastern

LOOKING TO REBOUND
The Quinnipiac women's basketball team (4-4, 0-2 MAAC) hits the road for a Wednesday night 7 PM tip-off at the Northeastern Huskies in Boston. The Bobcats come into the regional non-conference meeting having lost two straight conference games for the first time since the 2013-14 season. This also marks the first time these two sides have met in a scheduled game (non-tournament) since the 2003-04 season.

ON THE AIRWAVES
AM 1220 WQUN will provide live audio for the game. The audio link is provided above. Paul Pacelli will be on play-by-play while Maxx McNall will provide the color commentary. Live video will also be available courtesy of the Patriot League Network via the link available above.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northeastern (5-2, 0-0 Patriot League) is off to a strong start in head coach Kelly Cole's second year at the helm for the Huskies. After finishing last season 4-25, Northeastern has already eclipsed their entire season win total from a year ago. Senior Samantha DeFreese is the player to watch for the Huskies as she comes in averaging a near double-double with 18.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while shooting 60.7 percent from the floor. DeFreese sits 13^th in the nation while leading the Patriot League in field goal percentage. Also adding to her repertoire, DeFreese averages 1.29 blocks per game to sit just outside the Top 100 in the country in that category. Freshman guard Jess Genco has burst onto the scene, posting 10.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 3.1 APG while playing 38.6 MPG in her first seven career games. Genco ranks 4^th nationally and 1^st among all freshmen in minutes per game. As a team, Northeastern is averaging 62.3 points per game while holding opponents to just 56.6 points per game. The Huskies are shooting 40.7 percent from the floor, 30.0 percent from three-point range and 72.1 percent from the free throw line.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTHEASTERN
Quinnipiac enters with an all-time mark of 2-4 against Northeastern, having last played one another in the FIU Tournament on Nov. 30, 2012 with Quinnipiac defeating the Huskies, 83-72. Before that meeting in the 2012-13 season, these two sides hadn't met since 2003 when the Bobcats fell on the road, 74-49. The last Quinnipiac victory against the Huskies came in a 63-62 home win on Dec. 18, 2002. The Bobcats are winless in two previous road meetings against Northeastern.

FORCING THE ISSUE
Even with all the struggles coming on the offensive end, the Bobcat defense continued its stellar play as Manhattan was forced into 35 turnovers while Quinnipiac came up with 20 steals in the losing effort. The 35 forced turnovers for Quinnipiac are the most by a Bobcat opponent in a single-game in the Bobcats' Div. I program history (since 1998-99). The 20 steals also marks the most for Quinnipiac in a single-game since totaling 21 against Bryant on Feb. 25, 2013.

ON THE REBOUND
Quinnipiac snagged a season-high 30 offensive rebounds in the Bobcats' 52-42 loss to Manhattan on Sunday. The discrepancy in offensive rebounds (30-14) led to a 21-5 advantage in second chance points for Quinnipiac. The 30 offensive boards also marks the most for the Bobcats in a single-game since grabbing 31 against Stony Brook on Nov. 29, 2007.

MAMA MARIA…MAMA MARIA!
In five games since returning from injury, Maria Napolitano has caught fire averaging a team-leading 13.6 points in just 24 minutes per game. In those five games, Napolitano has racked up 68 points, which is more than twice as many as the next-closest Bobcat (33 points) in that span. She recently recorded a career-best with 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting and 7-for-8 at the line in a 77-65 win at Vermont.

SCORING ASSASSIN
Maria Napolitano has been scoring at a fever pitch in her six games this season as she is averaging 11.3 PPG but her average of 22.9 PPG/40 minutes ranks as the fifth-highest in the entire MAAC. Due to her playing just over 20 minutes per game, her points per game average sits tied for 14^th in the MAAC. Out of all the players in the country, Napolitano sits tied for 152^nd in the nation in points per 40 minutes.

B-JOHN STEPPING INTO THE LIMELIGHT
One of the Bobcats' key offensive contributors in the 77-65 win at Vermont was sophomore guard Brittany Johnson. Finishing second on the team in minutes with 21, Johnson tallied a new career-high with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the 12-point victory. Johnson added three rebounds and two assists as she more than doubled her scoring output on the season with the 10-point effort.

BENCH PRESSED INTO ACTION
Quinnipiac's patented "Gold Rush" strategy of subbing five players in-and-out at a time has paid strong dividends lately as the Bobcats are outscoring their opponents 240-117 in bench points this season (30 bench points per game). The dominance has only magnified in the Bobcats' four wins this season as Quinnipiac outscored Hartford, Holy Cross, Temple and Vermont by a combined score of 133-65. The largest bench scoring margin just came when Quinnipiac's substitutes outscored Marist's reserves, 32-5, on December 3.

TURNOVERS TURNING INTO POINTS
Quinnipiac's depth and pressure defense paid dividends against Manhattan, forcing the Jaspers into 35 turnovers for the game including 21 in the first half alone. On the season, the Bobcats are forcing an average of 22.5 turnovers per game which has translated into 119 points off turnovers (14.8 per game) through eight games this season.

HIGH MAJOR UPSET
Quinnipiac's 58-56 win over Temple out of the American Athletic Conference signifies another huge step for the program as the victory marks the fourth win for the Bobcats over a high-major in program history. The three other high-major victories included wins over Alabama, Minnesota and Syracuse but the Bobcats' win over the Owls marks two straight seasons in which Quinnipiac has scored a victory over a high-major program (Alabama; W, 73-66; Nov. 30, 2014).

TAKING THE TOP THREAT AWAY
A huge key behind the Bobcats' success this season has been on the defensive end, specifically against the opponent's top scoring threat. In a recent three-game span, Quinnipiac has shut down Hartford's Deanna Mayza (nine points; 3-14 FG, six turnovers), Holy Cross' Raquel Scott (seven points, 3-6 FG) and Temple's Feyonda Fitzgerald (13 points, 5-17 FG, four turnovers). All three of which came in as the team's leading scorer (Fitzgerald 4^th NCAA in scoring) and all were held at least seven points below their season averages.

TEMPLE TEMPING EXPECTATIONS
The closing 30+ seconds where three Owl shots went begging was indicative of the entire game which saw Quinnipiac lock down Temple's high-flying backcourt duo of Fitzgerald and Butts. Coming into the game averaging a combined 45.7 points, 10 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 3.0 steals per game, Fitzgerald (13 points, 5-17 FG, 1-5 3FG, three rebounds, four turnovers) and Butts (seven points, 3-10 FG, 1-6 3FG, one rebound, three turnovers) were held to season-lows across the board including 20 points on 8-for-27 shooting (29.6 percent) and 2-for-11 from three (18.2 percent) with four rebounds and seven turnovers.

HOME SWEET HOME
Quinnipiac's 58-56 victory over Temple prolonged the Bobcats' dominance at home, extended the team's winning streak to 17 straight at the TD Bank Sports Center. The 17-game unbeaten streak tied the longest such streak in program history, matching the winning streak that extended from the 2012-13 NEC Championship season into the 2013-14 campaign. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Head Coach Tricia Fabbri's squad now stands at 42-5 (89.6 win percentage) in games played at home.

EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE
One of the key stats from the Bobcats' 13-point home win over Holy Cross is seen in the second chance points category as Quinnipiac converted 17 offensive rebounds into 20 second chance points. On the other end, Holy Cross was limited to just nine offensive rebounds and two second chance points for the game, giving Quinnipiac the 20-2 edge in the statistical category.

TIME TO MANZ UP
Stepping into a starring role for the first time in her career, Morgan Manz finishing with a team-high 15 points with six rebounds, four assists and two blocks in a team-high 29 minutes against Hartford. Manz established new career highs in points, assists, blocks and minutes in the victory while it marked the first time in her three-year career in which she led the team in scoring.

HITTING THE GLASS
Quinnipiac hit the boards hard in the Bobcats' 71-69 overtime victory as the team grabbed 50 total rebounds including 23 on the offensive end. The Bobcats' 23 offensive rebounds ties for the most the team has had since grabbing 27 offensive boards on Dec. 29, 2013 against Niagara. In Quinnipiac's 2015 MAAC Championship season, the Bobcats posted a season-high of 23 offensive rebounds once while meeting the 50+ rebound mark nine times in 35 games.

McCLURE MAKING HISTORY
Aryn McClure's monster game in the team's win over Hartford (10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 27 minutes) made history as she became the fastest Bobcat in program history to record her first career double-double (two games). The previous fastest in Quinnipiac's Div. I history was Val Driscoll who notched 20 points and 15 rebounds four games into her Bobcat career on Nov. 24, 2014.

B-MART OPEN FOR BUSINESS
In what hopefully marks the start of many more to come, Quinnipiac's freshman Brittany Martin became just the second Bobcat in program history to take home MAAC Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 16. Martin flashed tons of scoring potential in the Bobcats' season opener as she pumped in 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 2-of-4 from three and 6-of-6 at the free throw line in a team-high 29 minutes of action. She joins Adily Martucci, who won the award back on Dec. 30, 2013, as the lone two Bobcats to take home the individual honor.

PAULA PUTTING IN WORK
It's a particularly rare feat for a player to snag double digit rebounds in less than 20 minutes played but it's even more impressive for the player to do so in her first career game. Paula Strautmane (10 rebounds in 19 minutes) posted quite the debut on the boards as she became the first player in program history to grab 10+ rebounds in less than 20 minutes in her first career game. She also became the first player in Quinnipiac's Div. I history to grab at least 10 rebounds in her first career game, the next closest Bobcat grabbed eight rebounds in their first collegiate appearance.

DEFENSE-FIRST
Quinnipiac's harassing pressure defense forced Army West Point into multiple mistakes as the Black Knights committed 16 turnovers for the game, including 10 in the first quarter alone. The Bobcats' "Gold Rush" unit that saw 12 players enter the game and 10 compile at least 10 minutes of playing time, forced a usually sure-handed Army team into many mistakes. The Black Knights' team committed 16+ turnovers just three times in 31 games last season.