QU Women’s Basketball Responds with Resounding 79-53 Victory over Second Place Rider

Saturday, January 21

Hamden, CT

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

16-4, 9-1MAAC

Rider

13-6, 7-3MAAC

Rider

Quinnipiac

QU Women’s Basketball Responds with Resounding 79-53 Victory over Second Place Rider

1/21/2017 6:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats Follow First MAAC Loss on Thursday With Dominating 26-Point Home Win

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – Faced with defeat for the first time in MAAC play this season, the Quinnipiac women's basketball team responded with quite an answer on Saturday afternoon as the Bobcats dispatched the second place Rider Broncs, 79-53, at the TD Bank Sports Center.

Coming off a 61-58 loss to Monmouth on Thursday in a game in which the Bobcats shot a season-low 25.3 percent from the floor, Quinnipiac finished the battle between the two top teams in the MAAC with their third-highest field goal percentage (43.9, 29-66 FG) through 20 games on the season.

Quinnipiac sweeps the season series with Rider and moves to 9-0 all-time against the Broncs. The Bobcats also improve to 16-4 overall and improve to 9-1 in conference play, owning a two-game lead plus the tiebreaker over Rider (13-6, 7-3 MAAC) who currently sits second in the MAAC standings. Fairfield sits 2.5 games back in third place at 6-3 in their MAAC slate.

Desperately looking to find some consistency on offense following two games wherein the Bobcats combined to shoot 36-for-128 (28.1 percent), Quinnipiac found it in the form of Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) who tallied a game high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting to go along with four steals in the win. Fay's second career 20+ point game came in just 20 minutes of action while she continues to lead the team in scoring (10.8) and shooting (50.7 FG%).

In a rematch of a 91-79 Bobcat victory earlier this season down in Lawrenceville, New Jersey on Dec. 30, Quinnipiac again shredded the Broncs' defense as Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) and Vanessa Udoji (Randolph, Massachusetts) joined Fay in double figures with 12 points apiece.

The top two scoring teams in the MAAC played at a frenetic pace throughout and the shots were falling early as Quinnipiac managed a 21-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. Fay was dynamic in all facets as she tallied 11 of her 21 points in the first quarter alone while she hit on every shot she attempted (4-4 FG, 1-1 3FG, 2-2 FT) through her four minutes of action in the opening stanza.

Fay's production was sorely needed early as Rider's leading scorer Robin Perkins (third in the MAAC – 16.7 PPG) tallied eight of the Broncs' 20 points in the first quarter while she hit on all three shots attempted from the floor including one three-pointer.

The score remained close up through the near midway point of the second quarter as Rider held a 28-27 lead before the Bobcats took complete control of the game mustering a 33-7 run (+26) that put this much-anticipated matchup completely out of reach for the Broncs.

Quinnipiac's MAAC-leading scoring defense (58 points allowed per game) proved too much for the Broncs as the game-deciding 16-minute stretch saw the Bobcats hold Rider to just seven points on 2-for-23 (8.7 FG%) shooting with 12 turnovers. Igniting the +26 swing was a string of 15 straight missed shots for the Broncs from the 8:48 mark of the second quarter to the 5:16 mark of the third (span of 13:32) during which the Bobcats outscored Rider, 18-2.

The Bobcat victory was never in doubt following the massive run as Quinnipiac held a lead of at least 20 points throughout the entire fourth quarter before finishing with their largest lead of the game (26) as the final buzzer sounded on the 79-53 win.

Keying the resounding victory over a Rider team that had come in winners of five out of six, including a home win over Iona and road wins over Siena and Marist, was a standout defensive effort that held the top-shooting team in the MAAC to their third-lowest field goal percentage (34.6) of the season and their worst single-game shooting performance in 10 MAAC games.

After Perkins blitzed the Bobcats for eight points in the opening quarter, she finished the game with just 15 including just five in the second half. Quinnipiac also forced Rider into their third-most turnovers in a single-game in 2016-17 as the Broncs coughed the ball up 25 times which led to 21 points off turnovers for the Bobcats.

Eleven different Bobcats scored at least two points including seven from Sarah Shewan (Russelll, Ontario), six from Aryn McClure (Springfield Gardens, New York) and five from Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Connecticut) while five others tallied at least one field goal make in the victory.

Thirty alumnae witnessed the 26-point win as the Bobcats hosted the first annual Alumnae Day at the TD Bank Sports Center with festivities following up at the University Club.

Quinnipiac continues play on Thursday with another home game as the Bobcats will host the Niagara Purple Eagles at 7 PM in a game televised on SNY. The Bobcats overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half to defeat Niagara, 71-64, on Jan. 5.