QU Women’s Basketball Battles Into Fourth Quarter Against No. 25/15 Oregon State Before Falling, 75-60

Tuesday, December 20

T-Mobile Arena - Las Vegas, NV

11:00 PM (EST)

Quinnipiac University

8-3

No. 25/15 Oregon State University

9-1

OREGON ST

QUINNIPIAC

QU Women’s Basketball Battles Into Fourth Quarter Against No. 25/15 Oregon State Before Falling, 75-60

12/21/2016 3:54:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats Only Trailed By Six Heading into the Fourth Quarter; Sarah Shewan Goes For Career High 19 in the Loss

By: QU Sports Information

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Just six points separated the Quinnipiac women's basketball team from No. 25/15 nationally-ranked Oregon State to start the fourth quarter but the Beavers capitalized on their opportunities and pulled away from the Bobcats, 75-60, on Tuesday night from the T-Mobile Arena in the Play4Kay Shootout.

With the win, Oregon State improves to 9-1 on the season as the Beavers look to continue their march up the national rankings. Quinnipiac drops to 8-3 with the loss and 0-9 all-time against nationally-ranked opponents, however the 15-point scoring margin is the second-lowest loss the Bobcats have suffered to a ranked foe (No. 18 Vanderbilt – L, 75-74 – Dec. 10, 2009). Tonight's contest also marked the first time Quinnipiac had faced a Pac-12 opponent.

Junior forward Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) had a breakthrough performance with a career high 19 points, scoring in a variety of ways against the tallest team the Bobcats will face all season (nine players listed at six-foot or above). Redshirt senior guard Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) added 12 points (5-12 FG) while Sydney Wiese and Mikayla Pivec led a balanced Beaver squad with 17 points apiece.

Quinnipiac played an outstanding first three quarters, heading into the final stanza trailing by just six as the score read 52-46. A 15-point loss was not indicative as the play on the evening as the Beavers never led by double figures until the fourth quarter. The Bobcats owned a 10-point lead midway through the first quarter as Shewan canned her first three attempts from beyond the arc as the Beavers were forced into an early timeout while Quinnipiac's bench could be heard thundering throughout the T-Mobile Arena.

Never trailing by more than eight points for the first 30 minutes of play, the Bobcats suffered through an extended lull on the offensive end as the Beavers held the Bobcats without a field goal throughout the fourth quarter until the 4:54 mark of the stanza. On the other end of the floor, Quinnipiac continued to pressure the Beavers' three-time All-Pac-12 First Team point guard Wiese but the fouls began to pile up as Oregon State shot 14 free throws in the final 10 minutes alone including a sequence where eight of 10 points came from the charity stripe (all of which came less than five minutes into the quarter).

A 10-0 run for Oregon State to begin the fourth quarter pushed the deficit to 16 which later turned into a 21-point margin but the Bobcats didn't go away quietly as Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) drained a three-pointer while Quinnipiac's five freshmen later came on and scored four straight points before the final horn sounded on a 75-60 Oregon State win.

In a defensive game plan centered on the ultra-talented Wiese, Quinnipiac largely focused on getting the ball out of the All-American candidate's hands which paid dividends throughout most of the contest. Less than one week removed from notching a triple double against UC Davis, the Bobcats held the dangerous Wiese to 17 points and four turnovers while her playmaking skills didn't translate into points for her teammates as she tallied just one assist on the night.

Even with Wiese going 3-of-6 in the first half, the remaining 10 Beavers to see the floor shot just 10-of-27 (37 percent) in the first 20 minutes of play and opened the door for the Bobcats. After a slow-starting game for both teams, Shewan's hot shooting made things interesting early as she posted 11 of her career high 19 points in the first quarter alone including a span where she scored eight straight points.

After her third triple of the opening stanza, Oregon State called timeout and settled in as the 10-point Bobcat lead vanished into just a one-point advantage following a 11-2 run to end the quarter.

Quinnipiac held on to the lead through the first two-plus minutes of the second quarter and the lead was later only one point for the Beavers before the stingy Oregon State defense held the Bobcats scoreless for the final 5:48 of the first half in building a 36-28 halftime advantage.

The halftime buzzer came at the right time for the Bobcats as Quinnipiac shook off the second quarter rust and fired on all cylinders throughout most of the third quarter. Buckets from Martucci and Morgan Manz (Southbury, Connecticut) to open the quarter pushed the Beaver lead back down to three and later Martucci drained another deep pull from three to tie the score, 40-40, with 14:19 remaining.

Following that spurt, however, Oregon State capitalized for the first time against the Bobcat pressure with three consecutive makes from long range that loomed large as the tie game quickly turned into an eight-point Oregon State advantage which proved enough in the end for the win.

Coming in with the fourth-best scoring defense in the country (51.4), Oregon State's defense proved difficult to overcome in stretches but the Bobcats did manage to score 60 points, becoming just the second team to record 60+ points against the Beavers in a game this season. The Bobcats also finished a more than respectable 23-for-63 (36.5 percent) from the floor and 9-of-22 from three (40.9 percent) against a team that came in with the 11^th-best field goal percentage defense (31.4) in the nation.

Quinnipiac's defense performed beautifully in this game as the Beavers were forced into 17 turnovers while the Bobcats managed to commit only 12 on the offensive end against the lengthy Oregon State squad. The free throw line, however, helped tell the story as the Beavers attempted 25 for the game (18 made) while the Bobcats managed only six (five made).

Quinnipiac will be back in action once again tomorrow night at 5:30 PM (8:30 PM EST) for their third and final game of the Play4Kay Shootout. The Bobcats are set to take on Long Beach State in the third place game as the two sides will meet for the first time. The 49ers have played very well in their first two games of the tournament, defeating No. 21 South Florida, 73-68, on Monday before falling to Big 12 power Oklahoma State, 63-57, on Tuesday.