Quinnipiac University
Saint Peter''s
QU Women's Basketball Clinches No. 1 Seed in MAAC Tournament With 82-52 Victory Over Saint Peter's in Front of Record Home Crowd
2/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
- Box Score
- Season Stats
- Quinnipiac vs. Saint Peter's - Game Replay
- MAAC Women's Basketball Standings
- Photos of Game & School Kids Day
- Complete Game Replay, Postgame Interviews & Game Video Highlights
HAMDEN, Connecticut - The Quinnipiac women's basketball team honored their six-member senior class in the greatest manner possible as the Bobcats ran away with the 82-52 victory over Saint Peter's in front of a record crowd of 3460 on Thursday morning. With the win, Quinnipiac's (24-3, 16-0 MAAC) winning streak hits 14 straight while the runaway victory clinches the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament for the first place Bobcats.
In what was Quinnipiac's first annual "Kids Day at the Bank," an event every MAAC institution participates that attracts local school children to come watch an early morning conference women's basketball game, the sights and sounds of the thousands of fans on-hand was evident from the jump. Through the efforts of the Quinnipiac departments of Admissions, Ticketing & Promotions, Athletics, and Public Safety, the Bobcats were able to draw the largest crowd for any women's basketball game in the history of QU Athletics.
The record-setting number of fans in attendance (3460) were gifted the final home game of the 2014-15 season for a Quinnipiac Bobcat squad that was playing for a little more than the guaranteed No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. Quinnipiac's six senior class members, the winningest four-year class in the Division I history of QU women's basketball, dressed for the final home game in their illustrious careers.
Coach Tricia Fabbri's senior class including: Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark), Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey), Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Massachusetts), Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey), Gillian Abshire (Washington, D.C.) and Shaina Earle (South Orange, New Jersey) went out in style as all six seniors scored and came off the floor to resounding applause at the game's end.
Driscoll, a graduate student transfer from the University of Michigan, led the way with her fourth career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) to go along with three blocks, two steals and two assists in 21 minutes. Her imposing height (6-foot-4) wreaked havoc on the interior all day as the Peacocks had to think twice about entering the painted area.
Guastella stepped up with 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks in her final home game, as the senior forward will go down as the all-time record holder in QU women's basketball history in three-pointers (198) and the all-time QU NCAA Div. I leader in blocked shots (167).
Ostergaard was the most active Bobcat on the morning as she finished with 12 points (eight in second half), eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal. Her energy in the fast break lit a fire under her team and kept Quinnipiac's comfortable lead in-hand despite a less-than-stellar first half shooting performance.
Abshire was sensational once again at the point guard position, dishing out six assists while adding three points, two rebounds and one block. She continues to lead the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio for the season (4.44) and has been even more incredible in MAAC play (6.47 A/TO ratio). An even more impressive feat is that the senior has played through an entire game without committing a turnover in five straight contests and nine out of the last 11 games for Quinnipiac.
Martin finished the day with five points, three rebounds and one assist while playing stellar one-on-one defense throughout her 21 minutes of play. Quinnipiac's fourth-highest all-time scorer (1,562) has been the team's go-to scorer for years and has developed into a shutdown defender in her senior season.
Earle finished the day with two points, two rebounds and one assist in eight minutes off the bench to round out the day for the Bobcats' senior class. Heading up the Bobcats' "Gold Rush" unit coming off the bench, Earle's play helped lead to a 35-point effort for the QU reserves in the day's action.
On a morning in which the usually lethal Bobcat shooters suffered the same type of struggles experienced in Quinnipiac's lone remaining 11 AM start this season, the Bobcats needed contributions from all across the roster in order to come away with the convincing victory.
As a team, the Bobcats shot just 27.5 percent from the floor (11-for-40) while missing on all 12 of their three-point attempts throughout the first 20 minutes of play. The opening stanza to today's game mirrored the same start experienced by the Bobcats in the Monday, Feb. 9 home MAAC contest against Iona. Similarly starting at 11:00 AM, Quinnipiac shot just 13-for-42 (31.0 percent) as a team in the first half and 1-for-16 (6.3 percent) from long range against the Gaels. But, again, much like the Iona game, Quinnipiac rallied for a dominating second half effort on the way to a convincing home victory.
The Bobcats' shooting woes disappeared as QU finished the second half 18-for-32 (56.3 percent) from the floor and 3-for-9 from deep (33.3 percent). Igniting that second half run was Ostergaard (eight points), Guastella (seven points) and Driscoll (six points) who combined for 21 second half points while each played just nine minutes of action.
Coming out of the halftime locker room with the 33-17 lead, the Peacocks again came out strong as the QU lead was trimmed to 44-32 with 13:21 remaining.
Saint Peter's pressure, however, didn't withstand as the Bobcats unleashed their A game on the Peacocks and reeled off a 30-6 run over a nine minute span to capture all momentum. Mixed in with the QU run was the first and only three-pointer of the day for Guastella, prolonging her streak with at least one made three-point field goal to 24 straight games.
The Bobcats took their biggest lead of the game, 76-41, before Coach Fabbri began to exit her seniors one at a time from play, each of which drawing a healthy applause. Quinnipiac went on to finish off the 82-52 victory
Quinnipiac now moves on to a challenging stretch late in the regular season as the Bobcats will work their way through four road games in seven days to close out the 2014-15 regular season slate. The difficult stretch begins with a road game at Iona on Sunday, Feb. 22. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN3 with a tip-off scheduled for 1:00 PM.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
