Quinnipiac University
Rider
Shewan, Ramos and Fabbri All Notch Career-Highs as QU Women's Basketball Cruises Past Rider, 96-54
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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HAMDEN, Conn. – The Quinnipiac women's basketball team made a glamorous return to the TD Bank Sports Center as the Bobcats dominated both stanzas and came away with the 96-54 victory over Rider on Saturday afternoon. In all, nine different Bobcats scored at least six points while three reached new career-highs offensively as Quinnipiac put forth an offensive clinic against a stingy Rider defense. The victory is the Bobcats' 10 straight and 16th in the last 17 games as QU improves to 20-3 (12-0 MAAC) while the Broncs drop to 7-16 (4-9 MAAC).
After working through 15 straight days without a home game, Quinnipiac remained perfect from the TD Bank Sports Center as the Bobcats are now 11-0 at home, defeating their opponents by an average of 24.9 points per game.
Samantha Guastella (Red Bank, New Jersey) led the Bobcats' scoring effort for the 10th time this season (most on the team) as she finished with 15 points (6-10 FG, 3-6 3FG) in 16 minutes to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal. Guastella prolongs her amazing streak which now is up to 19 straight games with at least one made three point field goal.
Val Driscoll (Stoughton, Massachusetts) joined Guastella in double figures as the 6-foot-4 center tallied 12 points (6-9 FG) with seven rebounds and three blocks. The MAAC's leader in field goal percentage continued her excellent season as she leads all players in the conference shooting 54.0 percent from the floor this in 2014-15.
The three stars off the bench for QU each played their best games as a Bobcat as Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario), Brianah Ramos (Montgomery, New York) and Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Connecticut) each went for career-highs on the offensive end. Shewan challenged Guastella for the team-lead as she finished with 13 points (4-6 FG, 2-2 3FG) in 18 minutes. Ramos hit all six of her free throw attempts to finish with eight points to go along with four rebounds. Fabbri, meanwhile, added instant offense late in the second half as she notched six points in five minutes for the Bobcats.
Contributions came from up and down the Quinnipiac lineup as Nikoline Ostergaard (Vedbaek, Denmark) chipped in nine points, five rebounds and four assists. Gillian Abshire (Washington, D.C.) put forth seven points and seven assists without committing a turnover in 18 minutes. Both Adily Martucci (nine points, three assists, three steals) and Maria Napolitano (eight points, three rebounds) continued to excel off the bench for the Bobcats while Shaina Earle (four points, four rebounds, three assists) also saw good minutes in today's action.
As a team, 12 of 14 Bobcats that saw the floor on Saturday scored at least one field goal while Quinnipiac also dished out 27 assists on 32 made buckets, finishing just two shy of matching a single-game program record. The MAAC's scoring leader this season only increased their stranglehold with a season-high 96 points to up the Bobcats' points per game average to 77.1 in 23 games.
Right from the opening tip it was evident Quinnipiac was ready to play as the Bobcats took the early lead on a Driscoll layup eight seconds into the game and never looked back as QU led this one wire-to-wire.
Quinnipiac made an extended effort to feed the post and attack the rim early and often the Bobcats' first seven makes from the floor came in the painted area. That early pressure began translating into open looks from the outside starting with a three-point make for Jasmine Martin (Sicklerville, New Jersey) over eight minutes into the half. Just two minutes later, that focus for QU in the interior again paid dividends as Napolitano hit back-to-back three pointers to up the Quinnipiac lead to 28-9.
Not to be forgotten was the defensive energy put forth by the Bobcats as Quinnipiac's pressure held Rider without a field goal for 7:25 midway through the first half. All the hard work on the defensive end translated on the scoreboard as the Bobcats reeled off a 16-0 run to capture all momentum in the early stages. The Bobcats' lead would grow to as many as 27 points in the second half before Quinnipiac went into the halftime locker room ahead, 47-23.
Putting for a consistent effort for 40 straight minutes has been a noted problem of late for the Bobcats but that issue never came into play on Saturday as Quinnipiac put up 49 points in the second half in helping to finish off the convincing 42-point victory.
After scoring only six points through the first six minutes of the second stanza, the Bobcat bench ignited the offense with four straight points from Ramos. Guastella and Driscoll then began to assert their will as the pairing combined for nine straight points to make it 69-33 with 10 minutes remaining.
The lead swelled to as many as 46 points late in the second half as Coach Tricia Fabbri's second and third units all combined to finish off the impressive win.
The Bobcats' 42-point margin-of-victory in Saturday's victory is also the largest margin in which Quinnipiac has won in the Bobcats' Div. I history (since 1998-99). The last time the Bobcats had beaten their opponent by a larger margin was on Nov. 25, 1995 when QU defeated St. Joseph (N.Y.), 101-15.
Rider's contingent was led by Kamila Hoskova who tied Guastella with a game-high 15 points. Quinnipiac successfully shut down the Broncs' two highest scorers in Robin Perkins (2-8 FG, five points, four turnovers) and Emily Fazzini (0-5 FG, 0 points).
Quinnipiac now moves on to what will be a big test on Monday morning as the Bobcats take on the Iona Gaels for the first time in the 2014-15 season. The reigning MAAC regular season champions come into TD Bank Sports Center on what will be the Bobcats' first annual Kids Day at the Bank with tip-off set for 11:00 am.
Contact: Maxx McNall; maxx.mcnall@quinnipiac.edu
