QU Women's Basketball Celebrates Sweet 16 Trip With Send-Off
3/22/2017 9:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
(By Tyler Brosious, special to QuinnipiacBobcats.com; video by Paul Caracciolo)
The women's basketball team got off their team plane as dawn began to break Tuesday morning, just a mere six hours after the Bobcats defeated the fourth-seeded Miami Hurricanes, punching their tickets to the NCAA Sweet 16. They knew they just had less-than two full days to recharge, refocus, and refuel before heading to California.
For head coach Tricia Fabbri, who has yet to respond to the 450-plus congratulatory text messages in her phone, the excitement surrounding the team's run in the NCAA Tournament is just starting to sink in.
"To have this at the national-level, there is nothing like it." Fabbri said.
For the student athletes, it was just a quick nap, and then back into the classrooms Tuesday morning to catch up on any missed work or tests.
"It's all about time management and being very organized," Aryn McClure said when asked how she is balancing it all.
The excitement and buzz was felt throughout campus Tuesday and has continued throughout the week as the student center, dining halls, and classrooms were in a frenzy with students debating what was their favorite moment of the past weekend.
Was it Jen Fay's 21-point performance against Marquette? Was it Adily Martucci's block with just seconds left on the clock to solidify the first-round victory? Or was it Morgan Manz's career-high 22 points along with her six three pointers to stun Miami?
For the players, the idea that anyone can step up at anytime is nothing new.
"That is just what makes us so special," Fay said when asked about the balance on the team. "On any given night, anyone can light it up. That's what a lot of teams don't have. So, I think that makes us so much harder to guard. When teams are doing a scout, they don't have to worry about just one star player, but everybody, because on any night, anyone can be a star."
Regardless of what the fans' favorite moments were, one thing was for sure: Quinnipiac was officially on the map in the world of NCAA Women's Basketball.
Wednesday was much of the same for the Bobcats as a multitude of support poured out of the TD Bank Sports Center on a blistering-cold afternoon. Fellow sports teams, fans and supporters lined the sidewalk out front of the arena as Fabbri delivered a speech high above Bobcat Nation, thanks to the Hamden Fire Department's ladder truck.
"It's pretty awesome that the community came together like that," Manz said about the pep rally. "A lot of people have came up to me, that I don't even know, to say congratulations..it's really special that Quinnipiac is coming together and really supporting us at this time."
Up next for Quinnipiac is number-one seeded South Carolina. However, the Bobcats have stopped looking at the numbers next to the opponent and started to just worry about the team, especially after upsetting a five-seed and a four-seed in the first two rounds of the tournament.
" I think it's us handling us, our business and Quinnipiac." Fabbri said, "I do firmly believe that we are not going to be in awe of seeing 'South Carolina' going across their jersey."
The team-first approach is vivid in every conversation, as every player seems eager to mention her teammates when talking about the recent success.
The Bobcats rely heavily on their younger players, who may not see the court as often during the game, to help as the scout team in practice, and to push their older peers.
"The freshman and the sophomores who aren't really getting a lot of time, they are the practice squad, they are the scout team for us and they push us to the limits," Carly Fabbri said. "I think that practice makes champions and they've been able to push us to our limits and prepare us for each and every game...I think they have been an integral part of us getting ready for our next opponent."
The Bobcats will look to keep 'taking that next step' Saturday night when they face off against the one-seeded Gamecocks in Stockton, California at four o'clock. Quinnipiac knows it all starts with the right mindset.
"I think coming off two really impressive wins, it is going to give us more confidence," Fay said. "We are going in there looking to win. It's going to be a tougher game than the first two were, but I think if we go in there and play well and continue to believe, I think that's the main key, we can really surprise some people."
