Quinnipiac University
Manhattan
QU Women's Basketball Holds Off Manhattan, 82-71, Behind Val Driscoll's Career-High 28 Points
2/24/2015 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
BRONX, New York – The Quinnipiac women's basketball team is starting to get used to taking the best of what their opponents can throw at them. In this Tuesday night tilt at Manhattan, the last place Jaspers gave the MAAC's top squad Quinnipiac everything they could handle but ultimately the first place Bobcats came through with the 82-71 victory.
Quinnipiac (26-3, 18-0 MAAC) wins their 16th straight game, currently the seventh-longest of any team in the nation, and 23rd in the last 24 games. The victory also marks the eighth straight road win for the Bobcats as just two regular season games now separate Quinnipiac from the MAAC Tournament up in Albany, N.Y.
Having to deal with the Manhattan pressure wasn't easy, as the Jaspers forced the Bobcats into 23 turnovers which is the most Quinnipiac has committed in a game since totaling 25 at then-No. 1 ranked Notre Dame back on Nov. 25. Quinnipiac, the nation's fifth-ranked team in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.52) coming into today, was bothered by the stingy halfcourt press and pressure zone defense all night but still managed to score above their season average thanks in large part to their dominating interior presence.
Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Massachusetts) took advantage of some great looks in the painted area, finishing with a career-high 28 points (11-14 FG, 6-6 FT) and 11 rebounds. Driscoll's second straight game with a career-high also marked the third straight game in which she tallied a double-double. The reigning MAAC Player of the Week Driscoll has been a marvel of late, averaging 21.3 PPG on 65.7 percent shooting and 94.7 percent from the line, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.
Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey) was the only other Bobcat joining Driscoll in double figures as she scored 13 points to go along with five rebounds, five blocks and three assists. Guastella buried four of her seven three-point attempts to prolong her streak of games with a made three-pointer to 26 straight games. She also swatted her most blocked shots in a game Dec. 15 against Albany when she totaled seven.
Quinnipiac's bench lifted the Bobcats with some solid minutes as all six players scored in Tuesday's action. Brianah Ramos (Montgomery, New York) led the way, matching her career-high with eight points in just seven minutes. Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) added seven, Maria Napolitano (Cincinnati, Ohio) five points with two steals, Jennifer Fay (Lynbrook, New York) four points and four rebounds, Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) put forth a great all-around effort with two points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks, and Shaina Earle (South Orange, New Jersey) picked up two points.
The back-and-forth game nearly got out of hand in the early going as Manhattan was hitting shots and forcing turnovers on their way to building a seven-point lead, 22-15, with less than 10 minutes to go in the first half. Coach Fabbri needed a lift so she went to her bench and the "Gold Rush" came through in flying colors, notching back-to-back three point shots from Napolitano and Martucci, before Fay took over with a bucket through contact to build the Bobcats' largest lead of the game thus far, 29-25.
Manhattan answered with a 6-0 run on their own to retake the lead but the Bobcats bounced back with a strong 11-6 run in the closing minutes of the half to take the 40-35 lead into halftime.
Despite committing 13 turnovers in the half and allowing Manhattan to shoot 57.7 percent (15-for-26) from the floor, the Bobcats still managed to claim the five-point advantage thanks to forcing Manhattan into 14 turnovers and crashing the boards with eight offensive rebounds leading to 11 second chance points.
The end-of-half momentum captured by the Bobcats carried over into the second half as Quinnipiac rode a 13-5 run to open the second stanza to build their largest lead of the game, 53-40, just over four minutes into the half.
Just as it looked as if Quinnipiac would cruise to the easy victory, the gritty Jaspers squad continued to dig in and make shots. After trading buckets with the high-powered Bobcat offense, the Jaspers turned it up defensively and scored eight straight points to make it a 68-65 game with seven minutes remaining.
Manhattan continued to fight and kept the deficit at five points with five minutes left but the Bobcat offense started running through Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark) and good looks began to open up. Ostergaard started with a strong offensive rebound and two makes at the free throw line before see found Driscoll wide open underneath after she faked out her defender in the paint.
Ostergaard again hit two straight free throws before Driscoll helped ice the game away with an offensive rebound put-back to build an 11-point lead before she again sunk both free throws after being fouled under the basket as her 28th point of the night helped secure the 82-71 QU victory.
Manhattan was led by Shayna Ericksen who scored 17 points (8-12 FG) while Ashley Stec (16 points), Kayla Grimme (14 points, six rebounds) and Taylor Williams (13 points) joined her in double figures. The Jaspers' miniscule point guard Blake Underhill also gave Quinnipiac trouble as she dished out 13 assists but also was pressured into 10 turnovers in 30 minutes.
Quinnipiac continues its four-game road stand on Thursday night game at Rider with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 PM from Alumni Gymnasium.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
