Bobcats Head To Garden State with Regular Season Title in Sight

Thursday, February 21

Lawrenceville, NJ / Alumni Gym

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Rider

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Bobcats Head To Garden State with Regular Season Title in Sight

2/20/2019 2:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Quinnipiac Visits Rider

By: QU Athletic Communications

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.. - With a fifth-straight regular season championship in its sights, the Quinnipiac women's basketball team heads to the Garden State to take on the Rider University Broncs on Thursday evening. A win in the 7:00 p.m. contest will give the Bobcats the MAAC regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT - QUINNIPIAC - W, 48-40 at Fairfield
Quinnipiac faced its toughest MAAC test to this point in the season, trailing for more than 12 minutes against Fairfield, but ultimately earned a 48-40 road win on Sunday afternoon.The Bobcats outscored Fairfield 17-7 in the fourth quarter, including a 7-0 run to close it out.

LAST TIME OUT - RIDER - L, 60-57 vs. Manhattan
Manhattan ended the game on a 12-3 run over the final 4:30 of action to earn the come-from-behind victory. Down the stretch, the Jaspers forced eight Rider turnovers over the final 10 minutes of play to erase a nine-point deficit. Stella Johnson led the charge for the Broncs with 22 points six rebounds and five assists, while classmate Tracey Goodman (Lansdale, PA/Phil-Mont Christian Academy) had a career-high 10 points off the bench.

THE SERIES
The Bobcats are 14-0 all-time against Rider, making the Broncs one of five MAAC opponents that have never recorded a win against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats have eliminated Rider from the MAAC Tournament in each of the last two seasons and defeated the Broncs, 72-56, earlier this month in Hamden.

STREAKING
Quinnipiac's current 14-game win streak is the third-longest active streak in the nation behind only #1 Baylor and #25 Rice.

LOCK 'EM CATS
The Bobcats rank fourth in the country and first in the MAAC in scoring defense (50.8 opp ppg). Quinnipiac set a new program record last week, allowing just six points to Manhattan in the first half. The Bobcats only allowed one point in the second quarter, tying the program record set on February 23 against Marist. Quinnipiac allowed just 2 points to Siena in the first quarter of last month's contest and have also played four 4-point quarters (Richmond, Fairfield, Saint Peter's, and Monmouth).

D...D..D... DEFENSE!
Quinnipiac allowed just 31 points to Siena earlier this season. The Saints' total was the lowest by any opponent since a 61-26 win over Albright on January 8, 1994. The Bobcats have allowed fewer than 50 points 13 times this season and 10 times in 14 conference games.

MAAC WIN STREAK
Sunday's win vs. Fairfield was the 45th-straight MAAC victory for Quinnipiac, the longest in the history of the conference. The streak currently stands as the second-longest active streak in the nation, behind only Connecticut. Historically, the current streak is the 14th-longest in the history of Division I women's basketball.

WITHOUT A DOUBT
Through the first 14 games of the conference schedule, Quinnipiac's margin of victory stands at 25.1 points.

TURN IT OVER
The Quinnipiac defense forced 22 more turnovers against Fairfield on Sunday. It was the 16th time this season that a Quinnipiac opponent has committed at least 20 turnovers.

MORE FOR MCCLURE
Aryn McClure has moved into 15th on Quinnipiac's all-time scoring list and 10th in the Division I era. Earlier this season, she became the first Bobcat of all-time to record 1,000 points, 700 rebounds, and 300 assists. She was named the MAAC Player of the Week for the second time this season after her performances against Monmouth and Rider.

WAR-FILLING UP THE BOX SCORE
Junior Paige Warfel earned her second-career double-double with a 12-point, 15-rebound effort against Niagara and averaged a double-double for the week. The Pennsylvania native has 10+ points nine times and 6+ rebounds ten times this season.

OFFENSE WAS ON
The Bobcats had a historically strong offensive performance against Niagara last month, including 36 points in the first quarter alone. That output was the team's highest point total in a single quarter since switching from halves to quarters in 2015-16. The last time the Bobcats scored 30+ points in a quarter was in the fourth quarter of last season's NCAA Tournament First Round win over #8-seeded Miami.

NO, SERIOUSLY, THIS TEAM WAS EN FUEGO
The Niagara victory marked the first time ever that Quinnipiac had two 30+ point quarters in the same game and the third time in two years that the Bocbats have posted 50+ points in a half. The 96-point tally was the highest for the program since February 7, 2015 against Rider.

SPREAD THE WEALTH
The January performance against Niagara was the fifth-straight game that at least four Bobcats scored in double figures. Six players hit the 10-point mark against the Purple Eagles. This month's win over Monmouth was the sixth time in the first nine MAAC games that four different Bobcats hit double digits.

LATVIAN BLOCK PARTY
Paula Strautmane has posted 24 blocks in her last 13 games (at least one in all 13 games), totaling 40 for the season. The senior ranks 68th-nationally in total blocks and 73rd with 1.60 blocks per game. She ranks 25th amongst all active Division I players with 188 career blocks.

DELLY DELLY
Senior Edel Thornton has gone three full games without a turnover, posting 11 assists in that span. The Ireland native is tied for the MAAC lead in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8) in MAAC games.

SWIPER NO SWIPING
Quinnipiac's defense has been a primary key to success this season. The team is ninth in the nation with 11.9 steals per game and ninth with 298 total steals.

FOX HUNTING
This season's win over Marist was the seventh-straight win for the Bobcats against their MAAC rivals. Quinnipiac has won 10 of the last 11 matchups after losing three times in 2013-14, the team's first season in the MAAC.

LOW TURNOVER RATE
Quinnipiac ranks 4th in turnover margin (+8.72) and 26th in the nation in least turnovers per game (13.2). 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 32nd nationally with 330 turnovers overall and ranks ninth with 21.92 forced turnovers per game.

GRAND OLE' BOBCATS
Paula Strautmane scored her 1000th career point in this month's win over Monmouth. The senior joined classmates Aryn McClure and Jen Fay as the three active Bobcats to reach the plateau. She, Fay, and McClure are the first trio of classmates in program history to each record 1,000 points.

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT
The Bobcats recorded season-highs in points (96), field goals made (39), and assists (24) against Niagara last month. This came less than two weeks after setting then season-highs in points (90), field goals made (35), three-point % (50.0), assists (23), rebounds (44), and steals (21) against Saint Peter's.

R-P.. R-P-I
According to the official NCAA RPI, the Bobcats finished the non-conference portion of the schedule at 71st on the RPI list and played the 24th toughest schedule in the nation. The Bobcats currently stand at 66th in the RPI after the first 14 games of the MAAC schedule.

RUNNING AWAY WITH IT
The January victory over Niagara was Quinnipiac's eighth win of 40+ points since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. The Bobcats have 112 conference victories (regular season and playoffs) since joining the MAAC in 2013-14.

HERD YOU!
Taylor Herd's five three-pointers against Fairfield were the most in her three-year career and the most by a Bobcat since Carly Fabbri hit five against Fairfield on February 2, 2018. She followed that performance with four triples each in games against Marist, Monmouth, and Canisius, tallying 20 threes in the month of January.

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 112-14 in conference play (including postseason).

FREE FOR ALL
Paige Warfel went 9-9 from the free throw line on Thursday at Marist, matching Brittany Martin's total in this season's win over Ball State, 9-9 is the third most free throws in a game without a miss in Quinnipiac's history. The team knocked down its first 15 freebies of the game vs. Ball State, finishing 21-23 (91.3%) from the stripe, the best percentage (12+ attempts) since February 25, 2010 against Monmouth.

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 (three in five MAAC seasons) and all-time winningest coach in program history has totaled 426 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 currently 49th on the list of active DI coaching victories.

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 53-4 (.923) 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 47-1 (.977) 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 34-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.

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.

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 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 99-4 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 160-15 (.912) in games where the Bobcats score 70 or more points, including 83-2 (.976) 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 52 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 heads back to Hamden for the second of two regular season matchups with Marist. The MAAC rivalry game begins at 2:00 p.m. at the People's United Center.