QU Women's Basketball Overcomes 16-Point Deficit, Scores 60-49 Come-From-Behind Win over Northern Colorado

Wednesday, November 22

Hamden, Conn.

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

1-3

Northern Colorado

4-1

Northern Colorado

Quinnipiac

QU Women's Basketball Overcomes 16-Point Deficit, Scores 60-49 Come-From-Behind Win over Northern Colorado

11/22/2017 2:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats Fight Off 21-5 Margin Early in the Second Quarter, Defeating a Northern Colorado Team Ranked No. 2 in Mid-Major Poll

By: QU Athletic Communications

PHOTO GALLERY

HAMDEN, Connecticut – On the day of the 2017 Sweet 16 banner reveal, the Quinnipiac women's basketball team fought off a 16-point second quarter deficit to defeat Northern Colorado, 60-49, in the Bobcats' 2017-18 home opener. A balanced attack for the Bobcats saw three players hit double figures in scoring as Quinnipiac's first win of the season comes against a Bear squad that came in receiving votes in both major national Top 25 polls.

Vanessa Udoji (Randolph, Massachusetts) led the Bobcats with 14 points while Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) added 13 and Jen Fay (Lynbrook, New York) posted her third career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Another great mid-major program awaits for the Bobcats as reigning Atlantic 10 Champion Dayton comes to the TD Bank Sports Center on Tuesday at 7 PM.

SCORE
Quinnipiac 60 / Northern Colorado 49

LOCATION
TD Bank Sports Center | Hamden, Conn.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac 1-3 | Northern Colorado 4-1

KEY MOMENTS

10-0 UNC (5:42, 1Q): Northern Colorado jumped out to a double digit lead as the Bobcats missed their first seven shots and the Bears' Courtney Smith scored five quick points in the 10-0 run
21-5 UNC (8:55, 2Q): The Northern Colorado onslaught continued into the second quarter as the Bobcats went 2-for-17 from the floor to start as the lead ballooned to 16 points early in the stanza
26-22 UNC (3:18, 2Q): After going down 16, the Bobcat offense came alive midway through the second quarter as an 11-0 run whittled the Bears' lead down to just four. Four different Bobcats scored in the run, Edel Thornton (Gurranabraher, Ireland) nailed the first three-pointer for Quinnipiac (0-for-12 to start the game) while Strautmane hit back-to-back jumpers in the paint to cap the 11-0 spree

**Make that a 15-5 run for QU! Strautmane gets this jumper to fall and the Bobcats trail 26-20 pic.twitter.com/1XuTzdEov4
— QU Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) November 22, 2017

35-28 UNC (5:18, 3Q): Savannah Smith connected on a jumper for a 5-0 Northern Colorado spurt to build the Bears' lead back up to seven moments after the Bobcats cut the deficit to two
37-35 QU (2:02, 3Q): Udoji took the Bobcats on her shoulders, scoring 10 of the Bobcats' 11 points in a span 5:56, capped by a driving layup late in the frame that gave Quinnipiac their first lead of the game

And the Bobcats lead for the first time today!! 37-35 pic.twitter.com/pwddk0aF1v
— QU Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) November 22, 2017

49-35 QU (7:00, 4Q): Udoji again factored with another driving layup, beating her defender along the wing, and finishing in traffic to finish off a 16-0 Bobcat run giving her team their biggest lead of the game at 14 points

FABBRI FOR ?????? pic.twitter.com/MH0cv26yq1
— QU Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) November 22, 2017

49-44 QU (4:48, 4Q): Responding to the Bobcat run, Northern Colorado spurted a 9-0 run of their own over a span of 2:12 to quickly get back into the game
56-44 QU (2:06, 4Q): Just as the Bear bench jumped for joy on a Savannah Scott three-pointer, Quinnipiac was there for the game-deciding 7-0 run as the lead grew back to double digits with just two minutes remaining. McClure's and-one finish to put the Bobcats back up 10 highlighted the run that finished off the Bears

Big AND-ONE for McClure who adds on the FT. 54-44 QU with 2:10 remaining pic.twitter.com/DnuFuZt62S
— QU Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) November 22, 2017

NOTES

After going down 21-5 early in the second quarter, Quinnipiac outscored the Bears 55-28 (+27) for the remaining 29:55 of play
Starting just 2-for-17 (11.8 percent) from the floor, Quinnipiac responded shooting 19-for-37 (51.3 percent) for the final three quarters of play
A balanced offensive attack, six Bobcats scored at least six points while Udoji led the team in scoring for just the second time in her career (30^th game) as she notched 12 of her 14 points in the second half alone
Strautmane hit double figures for the first time this season, going 4-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line (just 1-of-6 from the charity stripe to start the season) while adding four rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal in 25 minutes
Fay continues to rebound at a high rate as she totaled 10 on the afternoon to go along with 10 points for her third career double-double and third double-digit scoring output through four games this season
Fay leads the team in rebounding through four games with 29 (7.3 per game) after averaging 4.4 rebounds per game last season
Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) posted a career high five assists to go along with six points and four rebounds
The home win prolongs the Bobcats' dominance over recent seasons at the TD Bank Sports Center as Quinnipiac now stands 40-3 (.930) at home since the start of 2014-15
That 40-3 home mark since 2014-15 is tied with Maryland and Florida Gulf Coast for the eighth-best home winning percentage in the nation in that span
Quinnipiac honored its historic 2016-17 campaign pregame as the Bobcats dropped a banner to commemorate its Sweet 16 run in the 2017 NCAA Tournament

#Sweet16 run now lives forever at the TD Bank Sports Center pic.twitter.com/US3HDcoSKX
— QU Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) November 22, 2017

UPCOMING GAME
Quinnipiac is back at home on Tuesday night, set to take on the reigning Atlantic 10 Champion Dayton for a 7:00 PM tip. The two sides met in Ohio last season in a thrilling game that saw the Bobcats overcome a 17-point deficit (largest comeback in program history) to defeat the Flyers.