Five Hit Double Figures for QU Women’s Basketball in Dominant Road Win over Saint Peter’s

Thursday, December 1

Yanitelli Center - Jersey City, NJ

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-1, 1-0MAAC

Saint Peter's

0-6, 0-1MAAC

Quinnipiac

Saint Peter's

Five Hit Double Figures for QU Women’s Basketball in Dominant Road Win over Saint Peter’s

12/1/2016 10:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Freshman Vanessa Udoji (16 Points) and Paige Warfel (11 Points, Seven Rebounds) Headline Five Double Digit Scorers for Quinnipiac

By: QU Sports Information

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey – A balanced final box saw five Bobcats hit double figures as the Quinnipiac women's basketball team rolled past Saint Peter's, 84-51, on Thursday night in the MAAC opener for both teams at the Yanitelli Center. Quinnipiac finds their way back into the win column, moving to 5-1 on the season while the Peacocks remain winless at 0-6.

Grasping an opportunity for extended minutes, a pair of freshmen took full advantage as Vanessa Udoji (Randolph, Massachusetts) and Paige Warfel (Downingtown, Pennsylvania) turned in a pair of stellar outings to highlight the victory. Udoji went for 16 points (4-7 FG, 2-5 3FG, 6-6 FT) in 25 minutes to lead the way for the Bobcats while Warfel finished with 11 points and seven rebounds (all offensive) in 19 minutes. Heading into tonight's game with just three combined points in 22 minutes between the pair, Udoji and Warfel both made the most of their opportunity.

Joining the rookies in double figures was Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) with 13 points (5-11, 3-5 3FG) to go along with a season high four steals, Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) added 10 points (4-8 FG, 2-3 3FG) while Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) extended her double digit scoring streak to four straight as she finished with 10 points (4-9 FG, 2-5 3FG) with a career high three blocks. This marked the first time since a road win over Rider back on Feb. 26, 2015 (44 games ago) that five Bobcats hit double figures in scoring.

Points came aplenty for the Bobcats as they went over 80 points for the first time all season, shooting 40.8 percent from the floor (29-71 FG) and a season-best 40.7 percent (11-27 3FG) from downtown on their way to a season high 84 points on the evening. The magic number for Quinnipiac continues to be 70 as the Bobcats' record stands at 44-2 (95.7 percent) in games in which they finished with at least 70 points since the start of 2014-15.

Shots were falling from the start as Fay and Martucci combined for 10 of the first 13 points scored for the Bobcats. Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) later connected on a layup to give the Bobcats a 10-point lead with 2:58 remaining in the opening quarter.

Saint Peter's managed to buckle down on the defensive end, holding Quinnipiac scoreless for the remainder of the first quarter, while scoring four points in that span to lower the deficit to 21-15 heading into the second stanza.

The Peacocks continued with a bucket to open a 6-0 run on the Bobcats, lowering the gap to just four points, before Quinnipiac revitalized their offensive rhythm going on an extended 18-2 run that pushed the lead all the way to 38-19 before play began to even out before halftime. Warfel was right in the middle of the outburst as she scored seven straight points for Quinnipiac, making the Bobcat lead grow from 28-19 to 35-19 before Shewan connected on a three-pointer to cap the +16 scoring run.

Strautmane took her turn leading the Bobcat offense coming out of halftime as she notched eight of her 10 points in the third quarter alone. Saint Peter's managed to hold steady as the Bobcats held only a +2 advantage up until the final minute wherein the Quinnipiac ripped off a quarter-ending 6-0 run thanks to a three-pointer from Strautmane and a fastbreak layup for Martucci before the horn sounded.

Udoji was the feature player in the final stanza as she tallied nine of her 16 points in the final 10 minutes of play. Doing her work primarily from the free throw line, the rookie forward buried all six of her free throw attempts in the fourth and connected on her second three-pointer of the game with 2:36 remaining. She closed the game with four straight free throws in the final minute to give the Bobcats their biggest lead of the game before the final buzzer sounded on the 84-51 victory.

Several other Bobcats put together productive outings as the "Gold Rush" was in full effect, seeing 11 different players see at least nine minutes of action. Shewan finished with her second-highest scoring game of the season as she notched nine points with four rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes. Aryn McClure (Springfield Gardens, New York) contributed in many ways as she tallied five points, eight rebounds (four offensive), three assists, two blocks and two steals. Edel Thornton (Garrranabraher, Ireland) played the point guard position very well as she tallied five points and a career-best seven assists while recording zero turnovers in her 17 minutes.

Leading the way for Saint Peter's was the Peacocks' leading scorer Talah Hughes who notched a game high 18 points. Janelle Mullen joined her in double figures with 10 while Sajanna Bethea tallid nine points and eight rebounds.

The Bobcats face a quick turnaround for their next game as Quinnipiac welcomes Siena on Saturday to the TD Bank Sports Center for a 2 PM tip-off.