Back-To-Back Champs! QU Women's Basketball Ends Perfect MAAC Season with 67-58 Win Over Marist

Monday, March 5

Albany, NY

2:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

27-5

Marist

20-13

Marist

Quinnipiac

Back-To-Back Champs! QU Women's Basketball Ends Perfect MAAC Season with 67-58 Win Over Marist

3/5/2018 4:18:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: QU Athletic Communications

ALBANY, N.Y. – Junior forward Jen Fay had 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half, including the first 12 Bobcat points after halftime, while adding 10 rebounds to earn Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors while leading the Quinnipiac women's basketball to a hard-fought 67-58 win over Marist on Monday afternoon in the championship game of the MAAC Women's Basketball Tournament at the Times Union Center.

The title is the Bobcats' fourth in the last six years (three in the MAAC, one in the NEC), and caps off a perfect season in conference play (18-0 regular season, 3-0 in MAAC Tournament) for the third time in that span.

SCORE
#1 Quinnipiac 67, #2 Marist 58

LOCATION
Times Union Center / Albany, N.Y.

RECORDS
Quinnipiac 27-5 // Marist 20-13

HEAD COACH TRICIA FABBRI:
"I thought it was a great game and a great match-up. Marist has had such a great year this year, and our two previous match-ups were single digits and double overtime. It was the match-up that everyone on the women's side was looking forward to. The third quarter coming out of the gate with a run was big for us; we hit some big shots, and it was just one heck of a game."

GAME NOTES

Junior forward Jen Fay was named the MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, while senior guard Carly Fabbri and junior guard Aryn McClure were named to the All-Tournament Team.
With the win over Marist, Quinnipiac has now claimed back-to-back MAAC Championships and has earned its second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.
With the win, the Bobcats capture its fourth conference title in the last six seasons and its third MAAC Championship.
The victory is Quinnipiac's 22nd in a row and 21st straight in the MAAC this season.
The Bobcats' 22-game win streak is tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the nation with Belmont.
Quinnipiac's 22 consecutive wins ties its program record.
The victory over Marist was Quinnipiac's 31st straight win against a MAAC opponent dating back to last season.
The 31 consecutive conference wins is Quinnipiac's longest win streak against MAAC opponents since joining the conference prior to the 2013-14 season.
Quinnipiac is just the second team in MAAC history to win 30 conference games in a row, as Marist did it twice.
The Bobcats are four MAAC wins in a row from tying Marist's conference record of 35 MAAC wins in a row, which was between the 2006-07 and the 2008-09 seasons.
After trailing by one at the half (35-34), the Bobcats came out on fire in the second half, going on an 8-0 run, all from Jen Fay, to open the third and force a Marist timeout with 7:49 remaining in the third quarter.
Fay nailed a jumper to start the run and nailed back-to-back threes to push the Bobcats lead to 42-35.
After Marist ran off a 7-0 run to tie the contest at 42-42, Quinnipiac closed the third quarter with a 6-2 run to take a 48-44 lead into the fourth. Fay scored the first 12 points for the Bobcats in the second half before Strautmane added one.
Edel Thornton knocked down a big three-pointer to give the Bobcats a five-point lead at 55-50 midway through the fourth. After Marist answered with a three-pointer to cut it to two, Fabbri knocked one down for her first points of the second half to make the score 58-53 with 3:30 to play.
Marist hit two foul shots, but Fay knocked down a three-pointer in the corner off a Fabbri feed to push the lead to six, and then pulled down a defensive rebound to give her a double-double with her tenth rebound, and Marist wasn't able to threaten the rest of the way. .
After taking a 2-0 lead, Quinnipiac trailed for almost the entire first half, taking a one-point lead late in the second, before going into the locker room down 35-34.
After falling behind 21-14, the Bobcats used a 10-3 run to tie the contest at 24-24.
The run was capped after McClure made a layup and was fouled in the process with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter. McClure then hit the free throw for her fifth point of the day and 1,000th of her collegiate career.
With McClure reaching 1,000 points, she becomes the 22nd player in program history to accomplish the feat.
The nine-point margin of victory was the largest of the game and the largest in any of three wins that the Bobcats had against Marist this season. The first two wins were 62-56 at home and 80-72 in double overtime on the road.
Quinnipiac will head back to the NCAA Tournament after reaching the Sweet 16 a year ago with wins over Marquette and Miami, before falling to eventual national champion South Carolina..

QUINNIPIAC STAT LEADERS
Points: Jen Fay 23, Carly Fabbri 15, Paula Strautmane 12
Rebounds: Jen Fay 10, Aryn McClure 9
Assists: Carly Fabbri 5, Paula Strautmane 4
Steals: Aryn McClure 3

MARIST STAT LEADERS
Points: Alana Gilmer 19, Rebekah Hand 17
Rebounds: Maura Fitzpatrick 8
Assists: Alana Gilmer 5