Quinnipiac University
Fairfield
Bobcats Begin Title Defense Thursday in MAAC Opener
1/3/2019 12:22:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Quinnipiac hosts in-state rival Fairfield to begin conference slate
QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY BOBCATS (5-6, 0-0 MAAC) vs. Fairfield Stags (3-8, 0-0 MAAC)
Watch | Live Stats | Listen | Twitter - @QU_WBB | GAME NOTES: QUINNIPIAC | FAIRFIELD
HAMDEN, Conn. - Quinnipiac women's basketball begins the defense of its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship on Thursday evening against in-state rival Fairfield. The 2018-19 MAAC opener begins at 7:00 PM at the People's United Center in Hamden.
LAST TIME OUT - QUINNIPIAC - L, 47-45 vs. UCF
Senior Aryn McClure (Springfield Gardens, New York) recorded season-highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds. It was McClure's second double-double of the season as she led all scorers in points and with six made field goals. The Bobcats led most of the way but could not hang on as the Knights outscored the Bobcats 16-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away with the win. Paula Strautmane (Riga, Latvia) posted six points and six rebounds while Edel Thornton (Gurranabraher, Ireland) and Taylor Herd (Quakertown, Pennyslvania) also had six points each in the loss.
LAST TIME OUT - FAIRFIELD - W, 68-60 vs. UIC (Illinois-Chicago)
Lou Lopez-Senechal led a trio of Stags in double figures as she poured in a career-high 21 points. Fairfield led for the majority of the first half until UIC connected on a buzzer-beating jumper to give the Flames a one-point lead at intermission. The Stags would regain the lead for good with a Lopez-Senechal jumper with 2:10 left in the third making the score 50-47. The freshman was at the heart of another Fairfield run after drawing a charge and then connecting on four-straight points which put the Stags lead at 60-52. Aside from Lopez-Senechal's career-high 21 points, Casey Foley also made a new personal best with 18 points on 4-for-7 shooting from long range. Rachel Hakes also recorded career-highs in points (seven) and assists (six).
THE SERIES
The Bobcats and Stags have squared off 14 times since their first meeting in the 1978 season with Quinnipiac holding an 8-6 edge all-time. The Bobcats have won the last two matchups, both coming as a part of the undefeated 2017-18 MAAC season. The last Fairfield win came at Webster Bank Arena on February 12, 2017.
MORE FOR MCCLURE
With her first of three assists against UCF, Aryn McClure became the first Bobcat of all-time to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, and 300 assists (Queenie Edwards & Erin Kerner). She also recorded her 700th career rebound in the contest. The senior was named the MAAC Player of the Week and the College Sports Madness Player of the Week.
R-P.. R-P-I
According to the official NCAA RPI, the Bobcats are currently 71st on the RPI list and played the 24th toughest schedule in the nation.
'TIS THE SEASON OF GIVING
Jen Fay ranks inside the top 100 nationally in assist-turnover ratio. Her 4.93 mark is the best among all MAAC players.
LOW TURNOVER RATE
Quinnipiac ranks 54th in the nation in least turnovers per game (14.2) and 40th in turnover margin (+4.45). The team's six turnovers against Missouri on November 24 were the team's least in a non-conference game since joining the Division I ranks. The team's 71 total turnovers through six games was also the lowest six-game total to start a season in Quinnipiac's Division I history. The team is 27th in the country with 156 turnovers overall.
LOCK 'EM CATS
Quinnipiac allowed just 11 points (four in the first quarter) to Richmond in the first half of last month's contest. It was the lowest point total in a quarter and half for any Bobcat opponent since Marist scored 10 points in the half and one in a quarter on February 23, 2017.
MAAC-TO-BACK
Quinnipiac enters the 2018-19 season as four-time defending MAAC regular season champions, earning the top record in conference play at 18-0 last year. Quinnipiac has dominated the league since joining in 2013-14, going 99-14 in conference play (including postseason).
LEADER OF THE PACK
Head coach Tricia Fabbri enters her 24th season leading the Bobcats in 2018-19, as the five-time Coach of the Year (third in five MAAC seasons) and all-time winningest coach in program history has totaled 412 career victories, thus far. Fabbri's Bobcats have reached the 20-win plateau in seven straight seasons, won four conference titles in the last six seasons and earned four consecutive MAAC Regular Season titles. She is on the verge of cracking the top 50 on the list active DI coaching victories.
MAAC WIN STREAK
After going unbeaten in conference play last season, Quinnipiac takes a streak of 31 consecutive MAAC victories into 2018-19. The Bobcats' current streak is four games short of Marist's all-time mark of 35 straight MAAC victories (including postseason play).
GOTTA LOVE THAT HOME COOKIN'
Quinnipiac's extended home dominance is particularly impressive when looking at games against MAAC opponents, as the Bobcats stand with a mark of 46-4 (.920) at home in league games since joining the conference in 2013-14. That prominence is only magnified when looking a since 2014-15, as the Bobcats are 40-1 (.978) at the People's United Center in conference games, with the only loss coming three years ago to Manhattan. The Bobcats are currently riding a 27-game unbeaten streak in home games against MAAC foes.
WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES
Freshman Mackenzie DeWees scored 13 points against Central Michigan. Her points were the most by a Bobcats freshman since Vanessa Udoji scored 16 against Saint Peter's on Dec. 1, 2016.
YOU DESERVE AN A-WARD!
Jaden Ward was a bright spot offensively for the Bobcats at Princeton, tying a season-high with nine points. She scored all nine points in the third quarter and was the only Quinnipiac player to score in the period.
TOUGH TO BEAT
Princeton became just the sixth Quinnipiac opponent (173 opponents all-time) to be unbeaten in two or more all-time matchups with the Bobcats.
FREE FOR ALL
Brittany Martin went 9-9 from the free throw line in this season's win over Ball State, the third most free throws in a game without a miss in Quinnipiac history. The team knocked down its first 15 freebies of the game, finishing 21-23 (91.3%) from the stripe, the best percentage (with more than 12 attempts) since February 25, 2010 against Monmouth. She followed that performance with a 4-4 night at Harvard. 13 free throws in a row is the longest streak by a Bobcat since Taylor Herd made 10 in a row over the course of nine games last year.
ROAD WARRIORS
The game at Harvard marked the latest into the season the Bobcats have ever played a home opener, as the 2018-19 season began with seven straight games away from home. The seven-game road trip was the longest to start a season in Quinnipiac's Division I history.
FAY DAY
Fay scored the 1000th point of her career in Friday's loss to Texas. The redshirt senior joins Aryn McClure as the two active Bobcats to reach the plateau. Classmate Paula Strautmane is 28 points shy of the mark after Sunday's game. If Strautmane reaches 1,000 points this season, she, Fay, and McClure would become the first trio of classmates to record 1,000 points in program history.
ANOTHER NATIONAL POSTSEASON APPEARANCE
Quinnipiac's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament last year marked the seventh straight national postseason appearance for the Bobcats and the eighth in program history. Quinnipiac earned its first national postseason appearance with a trip to Iona in the 2008 WNIT Tournament and then made a second WNIT Tournament appearance in 2012 against Temple. The first NCAA Tournament berth came in 2013 as the Bobcats earned a No. 13 seed to play at No. 4 Maryland. Quinnipiac also took home the 2015 MAAC Championship, claiming a No. 12 seed and facing No. 5 Oklahoma. In the 2014 and 2016 postseason, the Bobcats advanced to the WNIT, defeating Maine, 90- 44, in 2016 for the program's first-ever postseason win.
FIRST NATIONALLY RANKED WINS COME AT RIGHT TIME
The Bobcats are 2-15 all-time against nationally-ranked competition and own an all-time mark of 10-39 against teams in high-major conferences (ACC, BIG EAST, Big 12, B1G, Pac-12 and SEC). After going 0-for-9 in their first nine games against ranked foes, Quinnipiac won two straight games against nationally-ranked opponents in the 2017 NCAA Tournament before bowing out to the eventual NCAA Champions South Carolina (last year's non-conference schedule included losses to nationally-ranked Missouri and Ohio State). Quinnipiac had its first ranked win in an NCAA First Round victory over a Marquette squad that came in ranked No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll and followed that up with a road triumph over No. 16 Miami. The Bobcats' six other wins over high-major foes have come against Alabama, Minnesota, St. John's (NY), Syracuse and Providence (four times, including this season on Nov. 15).
HITTING THAT MAGIC NUMBER
Quinnipiac's 28 wins last season marked yet another 20-win campaign for Head Coach Tricia Fabbri in 2017-18. The 12th 20-win season in program history made it seven in-a-row as well as the ninth in Fabbri's 23-year coaching career at Quinnipiac. Quinnipiac is one of just 20 teams across the nation and one of six mid-major programs to record seven straight 20+ win seasons. Over those last seven complete seasons, Quinnipiac has compiled a record of 186-52 for a .782 win percentage which ranks as the tenth-best overall mark in the nation.
THE ULTIMATE CLOSERS
Quinnipiac has enjoyed a great deal of success over the past four seasons when building a first half lead. After starting 2016-17 with a mark of 2-0 when owning a halftime lead, the Bobcats recently saw one of their most impressive streaks in program history come to an end in a 71-68 loss at Temple. The undefeated streak, which lasted over the course of three seasons, came to an end at 45 straight wins for the Bobcats when holding a halftime lead. Quinnipiac went undefeated in both 2014-15 (24-0) and 2015-16 (19-0) and for the first two games of 2016-17 before suffering the defeat. Overall, however, the Bobcats went 22-2 in the 2016-17 season and 19-0 in 2017- 18 to give Quinnipiac a mark of 86-2 since the start of 2014-15 in games in which Quinnipiac leads at the half.
THAT 70s SCORING SHOW
Since the 2007-08 season, Quinnipiac is 154-15 (.911) in games where the Bobcats score 70 or more points, including 78-2 (.975) combined since 2014-15. During 2017-18 (20-0), 2016-17 (16-0), 2012-13 (18-0) and 2010-11 (8-0), the Bobcats compiled undefeated records in each respective season when reaching the 70-point scoring plateau. Quinnipiac has improved its current win streak in those contests to 46 in a row (the last defeat was in overtime to FGCU in 2015-16 - the last regulation loss was to Oklahoma in the 2015 NCAA Tournament).
NEXT UP
Quinnipiac will continue the opening weekend of MAAC play when Saint Peter's visits the People's United Center on Sunday, January 6th at 2:00 PM.
