Heading To The Dance! QU Women's Basketball Holds Off Rider For MAAC Title

Monday, March 6

Times Union Center - Albany, NY

5:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

27-6

Rider

24-8

Rider

Quinnipiac

Heading To The Dance! QU Women's Basketball Holds Off Rider For MAAC Title

3/6/2017 7:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats Head to NCAA Tournament for Third Time in Five Seasons, Winning Program's Second MAAC Championship

By: QU Sports Information

ALBANY, N.Y. – Sophomore forward Aryn McClure (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.) had a career-high 28 points to lead the top-seeded Quinnipiac women's basketball team to an 81-73 win over second-seeded Rider in the 2017 MAAC Women's Basketball Championship finals on Monday evening at the Times Union Center.

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 27-6 on the season and earn an automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, their third bid in the last five years. Quinnipiac also earned an NCAA bid in 2013 while in the Northeast Conference (after a perfect 18-0 regular season), and in 2015 in the MAAC after a perfect 20-0 regular season. Rider falls to 24-8 with the loss and will participate in the WNIT as the MAAC's second-place finisher.

Quinnipiac appeared to be coasting to the championship, leading by double figures for almost the entire fourth quarter. However, Rider went on a 10-0 run over just 27 seconds to pull within 72-68 with 1:06 remaining, forcing a pair of turnovers in the backcourt with their full court press. McClure was fouled on the next possession and hit a pair of pressure foul shots with 1:05 left to push the lead to six, and sophomore forward Paula Strautmane (Mucenieki, Latvia) had two key blocks and a defensive rebound on the other end to prevent the Broncs from getting closer. Quinnipiac was then able to hit its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 81-73 win and the automatic NCAA berth.

Thanks to McClure's 16 points, the Bobcats led 30-29 at the break after trailing for almost the entire first half. The Bobcats came out of the locker room for the second half on fire to quickly stretch the lead to nine, as sophomore forward Jen Fay (Lynbrook, N.Y.) got things started with a put-back off her own miss and senior guard Adily Martucci (Waterford, Conn.) followed with a tough driving left-handed lay-up to make the score 34-29. A three-pointer from Strautmane pushed the lead to 37-31, and a three-pointer from Fay gave Quinnipiac a 42-33 lead.

Rider came back to within five points on two occasions, but Martucci answered with baskets both times, and back-to-back baskets from junior forward Sarah Shewan (Russell, Ontario) with 2:49 left in the third gave Quinnipiac its first double digit lead at 50-39. A Martucci jumper stretched the lead to 13, before the Bobcats settled for an 11-point lead at the end of the third (53-42).

In the fourth quarter, Fay's third three-pointer stretched the lead to 60-46, and she then went 1-2 at the line on the next possession after grabbing her tenth rebound to give the Bobcats their largest lead at 61-46 with 6:32 to go. The Bobcats were still up 14 with 1:30 left, before Rider's last frantic push got it to within four.

Quinnipiac got off to a slow start for the third game in a row, falling behind by as many as 10 points, but McClure kept the Bobcats afloat with nine of her team's 11 points in the first quarter. The Broncs surged ahead 15-5 before McClure stopped the Rider run with a jumper, and after Stella Johnson answered with two foul shots, McClure hit two more jumpers to make the score 17-11 at the end of the quarter.

Fay then got going in the second quarter, hitting a lay-up and a three-pointer to close the Rider lead to 19-18. Lexi Posset answered with two straight three-pointers for Rider to build the lead back up to seven, but Strautmane came right back with an old-fashioned three-point play and Martucci hit a jumper off a McClure feed to make it a 25-23 contest. McClure then closed out the half with three foul shots in the final minute to give her 16 first-half points and give the Bobcats their first lead of the game at 30-29 at the break.

McClure's performance was sensational as the sophomore played the best game of her career when the lights were at their brightest. Her 28 points came on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor while she was also 12-of-14 at the free throw line. The 28-point night came just one point shy of matching Erin Kerner's 29-point effort in the 2009 NEC Tournament for the highest-scoring postseason game by a Bobcat in program history. Her 12 free throws stand as the most by any Bobcat in a single-game this season.

Fay had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Martucci finished with 16 points to give the Bobcats three players in double figures. Rider was led by Julia Duggan with 23 points and nine rebounds Quinnipiac's inside presence was a factor, as the Bobcats held a 41-30 rebounding advantage for the game and blocked seven shots to Rider's two.

Martucci picked up MAAC Tournament MVP honors as the redshirt senior averaged 16.3 PPG (43.2 FG%) in 37.7 minutes per game while continuing to play her trademark lockdown one-on-one defense. She becomes the first Bobcat in program history to earn three conference titles in their career as she won the NEC title in 2012-13 during her redshirt season and was a contributor during the 2014-15 MAAC Championship season.

McClure, Fay and Carly Fabbri (Stratford, Connecticut) all earned spots on the MAAC's All-Tournament Team. All three averaged double figures across the three-game run in the MAAC Tournament - McClure (14.7 PPG, 52.0 FG%), Fabbri (11.0 PPG, 42.9 3FG%, 3.0 APG) and Fay (10.0 PPG, 54.5 3FG%, 6.0 RPG) combined to lead the Bobcats to the MAAC title.

The Bobcats will find out their opening round NCAA Tournament opponent and site when the selection show takes place on ESPN next Monday night (7 PM).