Balanced Attack Gives QU Women’s Basketball Convincing Win Over Holy Cross, 78-55

Wednesday, November 16

Hart Basketball Arena - Worcester, MA

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

3-0

Holy Cross

0-3

Quinnipiac

Holy Cross

Balanced Attack Gives QU Women’s Basketball Convincing Win Over Holy Cross, 78-55

11/16/2016 10:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Thirteen Different Bobcats Score in the 23-Point Victory

By: QU Sports Information

WORCESTER, Massachusetts – A balanced score sheet and dominant defensive outing loomed large for the Quinnipiac women's basketball team in a 78-55 road win over Holy Cross on Wednesday night. The Bobcats remain unbeaten, moving to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 2012-13 while the Crusaders drop to 0-3.

Quinnipiac masterly utilized their superior depth as all 15 dressed Bobcats entered the game and 13 of which scored on the evening. No Bobcat saw more than 18 minutes of action as fans saw the return of the "Gold Rush" subbing strategy wherein Quinnipiac subbed five players in-and-out of the game at a time throughout the 40-minute contest.

Morgan Manz (Southbury, Connecticut) paced the way for the second straight game as she finished with 16 points while shooting an impressive 6-of-9 overall and 3-for-5 from three-point range. She added three assists and matched her career high with three steals in just 18 minutes of action. Coming into Sunday's 63-60 road win over Dayton, Manz owned a career-best point total of 15 and has since eclipsed her previous career high in two straight games.

Solid contributions came via Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) and Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) as the tandem added 11 points each to give the Bobcats three players in double figures. Fay's 11-point performance came in just 14 minutes as she matched her career high which came nearly two years ago against Hampton on Nov. 18, 2014. After being held scoreless against Dayton and notching just four points in the win over Florida Gulf Coast, Shewan busted out with her best performance of the season hitting on five of her nine attempts from the floor.

The first night game of 2016-17 for the Bobcats began with some major firepower as Quinnipiac unleashed a 19-4 run on the Crusaders after the score was tied 4-4 less than three minutes into the game. Manz missed her first three-point look of the game but was key in the run as she drained three straight triples to create all the separation the Bobcats would need for the remainder of play.

Turnovers also played a key role in the 15-point swing as Quinnipiac forced Holy Cross into nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes alone which translated into a 12-2 edge in points-off-turnovers. That trend would continue over the final 30 minutes of play as Holy Cross committed 25 turnovers while dishing out just six assists for the game. Pressure defense and help in the low post frustrated the Crusaders throughout and led to a 32-7 advantage in points-off-turnovers.

One more Bobcat bucket to start the second quarter would cap the Quinnipiac run at 21-4 but the Bobcat defense continued to cause havoc as Holy Cross trailed at the half, 36-17, after shooting just 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) in the first half.

Holy Cross made an attempt to get back into the game as a 6-0 run lowered the gap to 42-38 with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter but the lack of three-point shooting limited the chance at a game-breaking run. Quinnipiac's full court pressure and stifling man-to-man defense limited looks on the outside as the Crusaders missed their first six attempts from long range and didn't make a triple until there was 4:18 left in the fourth quarter.

Faced with the mini Holy Cross run, Quinnipiac quickly silenced the threat with a three-point play from Shewan in the interior followed by Carly Fabbri's (Stratford, Connecticut) first three-pointer of the season that boosted the lead back up to 51-30.

The lead later swelled to 32 points midway through the fourth quarter Coach Tricia Fabbri emptied her bench once again for an all-freshmen version of the "Gold Rush." Vanessa Udoji (Randolph, Massachusetts), Taylor Herd (Quakertown, Pennsylvania), Jaden Ward (Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin), Paige Warfel (Downingtown, Pennsylvania) and Katie Grant (Phoenix, Arizona) all entered together as Udoji, Ward and Herd scored the first points of their collegiate careers to finish off the 23-point victory.

Other solid contributors on the day included an eight-point effort from Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) while Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) added seven points and five rebounds (four offensive) and Edel Thornton (Garranabraher, Ireland) totaled six points in her first action of 2016-17.

Quinnipiac (3-0) returns to the TD Bank Sports Center on Sunday as the Bobcats welcome Northeastern for a 2 PM tip. The Bobcats took last year's meeting in Boston, 71-60, as Brittany Johnson helped lead the way with 12 points and six rebounds.