QU Women’s Basketball Suffers 61-58 Loss at Monmouth

Thursday, January 19

OceanFirst Bank Center - West Long Branch, NJ

11:30 AM

Quinnipiac University

15-4, 8-1MAAC

Monmouth

9-8, 4-4MAAC

Quinnipiac

Monmouth

QU Women’s Basketball Suffers 61-58 Loss at Monmouth

1/19/2017 3:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats Shoot Season-Low 25.3 Percent (19-75 FG) in the Defeat

By: QU Sports Information

WEST LONG BRANCH, New Jersey – A thrilling Thursday morning battle between two longtime conference rivals ended in a heartbreaking 61-58 loss for the Quinnipiac women's basketball team at the hands of Monmouth from the OceanFirst Bank Center.

Playing in front of 2,000+ school-aged children for Monmouth's annual Kids Day game, the volume was at a fever pitch come the final minute as the top team in the MAAC was starting at a one-point deficit in desperate need of a bucket.

With three chances to take the lead, Quinnipiac came up empty on all three possessions as Adily Martucci (Waterford, Connecticut) saw a pair of jump shots rim out in front of the pressuring Monmouth defense. Only 6.7 seconds remained before the Hawks inbounded to freshman point guard Rosa Graham. In an attempt to shake Martucci, Graham ran back toward the Bobcats' end of the floor but not in time to lose the terrific defender in Martucci who forced a turnover.

Timeout was called with 2.6 seconds left as the Bobcats inbounded from underneath their own basket looking for the game-winner but the proceeding inbounds pass was thrown right to Graham at the three-point line, sending the Monmouth bench and fans into hysterics as the Hawks scored the huge upset of the Bobcats.

The tightly-contested back-and-forth thriller came down to the final minutes as the Bobcats looked to steal a win despite shooting a season-low 25.3 percent (19-75 FG) while the struggles were at their highest for Quinnipiac going 5-for-38 (13.2 percent) in the second half.

Despite leading 48-40 with 1:40 remaining in the third quarter, the Bobcats let that eight-point lead quickly slip away as a quick 6-0 spurt over a span of 34 seconds made it just a two-point game, 48-46, heading into the fourth quarter.

As the game continued on, Quinnipiac's struggles from the floor intensified as the team shot just 2-for-19 (10.5 percent) in the final quarter but still managed to hold on defensively to give the team a chance at extended what was a seven-game win streak for the No. 2 ranked mid-major team in the nation according to College Insider.

Struggles in the early stages of games continued as the Bobcats were down 10-3 after 3:51 of play as the top three-point shooting team in the MAAC (9.5 made three-pointers per game) Monmouth canned a pair of threes from Kayla Shaw in the opening run.

Play stabilized for the remainder of the quarter as a 6-0 run for the Bobcats, highlighted by back-to-back buckets from Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Connecticut), closed the gap right away and led to a 17-17 score at the end of one.

The score remained tied at 28-28 before a crucial 7-0 run for Quinnipiac pushed the Bobcats out in front by seven, 35-28, heading into halftime. Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) started the run while Martucci banged in a key three before Fabbri closed the half going coast-to-coast for the driving layup.

Even with the seven-point halftime lead, which grew to eight late in the third quarter, Quinnipiac was not able to hold on for just the second time in 13 games when leading at the half this season. The loss marked just the second time since the start of 2014-15 that the Bobcats have lost a game in which they led at the half (53-2, .964).

The top scoring team in the MAAC was held in check throughout by the Monmouth defense as Strautmane was the lone double digit scorer for the Bobcats, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds on 4-for-15 shooting. Martucci, Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) and Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) each finished with nine points.

The Bobcats did manage to snag a season-high 58 rebounds (25 offensive) in the losing effort which stands as the most in a single-game for Quinnipiac since grabbing 64 in the 2014-15 season against Monmouth at home (Jan. 4, 2015 – 73 games ago).

Quinnipiac (15-4, 8-1 MAAC) returns home for a Saturday tip against second place Rider (12-5, 6-2 MAAC). The two sides have already met once this season as the Bobcats defeated the Broncs, 91-79, as Quinnipiac scored a season-high 91 points in a close back-and-forth battle in Lawrenceville. The 2 PM tip-off also serves as Alumni Day as Quinnipiac welcomes back 30+ alums to the TD Bank Sports Center.