Bobcats Open Season at Home With St. Joseph's Long Island

Monday, November 2

Hamden, CT

6:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

St. Joseph's (LI)

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Maria Kealy vs. Manhattan (Dec. 19, 2025 in Hamden, Conn.)

Photo by: Rob Rasmussen / P8Photos.com

11/1/2026 4:38:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game #1: Quinnipiac Bobcats (0-0, 0-0 Metro) vs. St. Joseph's (Long Island) (0-0, 0-0 Skyline)
Monday, November 2, 2026 | 6:30 PM
Hamden, Connecticut | M&T Bank Arena
Watch (ESPN+): Click Here | Live Stats: Click Here | Game Notes: Click Here | @QU_WBB

HAMDEN, CT. – The Quinnipiac women's basketball team is set to kick off the Coach Owen era on Monday, November 2, as it opens the 2026-27 season against the St. Joseph's (LI) Golden Eagles. Tip-off from M&T Bank Arena is slated for 6:30 PM and can be seen on ESPN+. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Bobcats and Golden Eagles.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

This will be the first-ever meeting between Quinnipiac and St. Joseph's (Long Island).
Quinnipiac will begin the new season at home for the first time since the 2023-24 season.
This will be Coach Owen's first game as a head coach at QU.
St. Joseph's (LI) is a member of the Skyline Conference in Division III. The Golden Eagles fell to Farmingdale State in the Skyline Conference First Round last season, 43-37.

PRESEASON NEWS

The Quinnipiac women's basketball team was picked to finish sixth in the Metro Preseason Coaches' Poll with 103 points.
Fairfield was unanimously picked to finish first in the conference with 169 points.
The Saints were picked second (141 points), and Sacred Heart was voted third (134 points).
Iona (127 points) and Mount St. Mary's rounded out the top five in the preseason poll.
Below QU in the poll were Marist (87 points), Manhattan (83 points), Merrimack (80 points), Saint Peter's (50 points), Rider (43 points), Canisius (42 points), and Niagara (16 points).

2025-26 SEASON RECAP

Quinnipiac went 27-7 last season and made its second straight appearance in the WBIT.
The Bobcats went 19-1 in conference play last year, with their lone loss coming at the hands of the Fairfield Stags, 75-63, in Hamden.
Quinnipiac earned a share of the 2026 MAAC regular-season title and earned the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament by way of tiebreakers.
The Bobcats opened the 2026 MAAC Women's Basketball Championship with a 59-43 win over the Manhattan Jaspers to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals, the Bobcats needed an extra frame to defeat the Iona Gaels, 63-62, to punch their ticket to the championship game for the second straight year.
Quinnipiac and Fairfield matched up in the finals for the second straight year, and it was as advertised. The Bobcats and Stags went wire-to-wire, but Fairfield took home the win, 51-44, for its third straight conference title.
Quinnipiac earned an automatic bid to the WBIT and went on the road to defeat George Mason, 71-64, for its first-ever win in the WBIT.
The Quinnipiac women's basketball team's 2025-26 season came to an end in the second round of the WBIT, as it fell to the Stanford Cardinal, 81-69, on the road.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES

St. Joseph's (Long Island) is led by head coach Kerry Connolly, who is in her sixth season. Connolly holds an 80-48 overall record as head coach of the Golden Eagles.
Last season, the Golden Eagles went 15-11 overall and 11-9 in Skyline Conference play in NCAA Division III.
St. Joseph's lost its opening game of the Skyline Conference women's basketball tournament, falling to Farmingdale State College, 43-37.
Madelyn Barone was named an All-MET Division III Women's Basketball honorable mention after leading the Golden Eagles in scoring with 15.0 PPG. Barone also averaged 5.6 RPG in 29.8 MPG in her sophomore season.
The Golden Eagles outscored their opponents last season, 1431-1279 (+152).
As a team, the Golden Eagles averaged 55.0 points per game, while shooting 33.0% (527-1596) from the field and 24.9% (140-562) from three-point range.
St. Joseph's (LI) held its opponents to an average of 49.2 points per game, allowing a total of 1,279 points in 26 games.
The Golden Eagles averaged 43.8 rebounds per game and allowed their opponents to average 39.3 rebounds per game.
Madelyn Barone is the highest returning scorer from last year's team. Barone averaged 15.0 points per game in 25 starts.
Barone shot 37.3% (138-370) from the field, 29.0% (9-31) from three-point range, and 77.4% (89-115) from the charity stripe.

HISTORY VS. ST. JOSEPH'S (LONG ISLAND)

Monday's matchup marks the first time the Bobcats and Golden Eagles are facing off in program history.

WHO'S BACK?

The Bobcats return three players from last season's roster: Paige Girardi, Maria Kealy, and Ava Sollenne.
Paige Girardi was a key player on last year's team before her season was cut short due to an injury. In 28 starts, Girardi averaged 4.2 PPG and 3.1 APG. Girardi finished as the National Leader with a 4.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Both Maria Kealy and Ava Sollenne saw limited action last season.
Kealy averaged 1.4 PPG and 1.8 APG in 12.8 minutes per game.
Sollenne appeared in 17 games last year and recorded eight points and seven rebounds.

COACH OWEN'S FIRST SIGNEES

Head Coach Roman Owen got right to work to round out the squad, signing seven newcomers to come to Hamden.
Coach Owen's first signee was Alanna Benoit from Mandeville, Louisiana. Benoit played high school ball at Mandeville HS and scored 2,486 career points and shot 43% from the field throughout her high school career.
Next to ink their commitment to QU and Coach Owen was Lilly Thomas, who transferred from Missouri Southern State University. Thomas averaged 9.1 PPG in 30 appearances in her first season of college basketball.
Kayla Hopson followed suit and transferred from Gulf Coast State College. Hopson averaged 8.9 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 5.6 APG in 14.3 MPG last season.
Owen signed Leila Washington from Cloud County Community College as his fourth signee. Washington averaged 14.0 PPG and 7.3 RPG in 30 contests in her sophomore year.
Payton Dulin transferred to QU after spending her first season at George Washington. In limited time at GW, Dulin averaged 1.8 PPG, 1.2 RPG, and 0.9 APG in 29 games.
Another transfer committed to Coach Owen, as Elle Snyder of Evansville signed with the Bobcats. Snyder scored a career-high 18 points last season against Northern Iowa.
Coach Owen completed the roster with the addition of Ana Ramos Pires, who spent her last season at Georgia State, where she did not see any game action due to injury.

STAYING PUT WITH THEIR DECISION

After the legendary Coach Tricia Fabbri announced her retirement, four of her signees decided to stay true to their commitment and suit up for the Bobcats in 2026-27.
Ava Thomas, Imani Mullings, Mya Alston, and Uliana Doronina all stayed put with their initial decision and will enter their first years of college basketball.
Both Alston and Thomas earned McDonald's All-American nominations last year.
Alston was ranked the second-best player in Oklahoma according to 247Sports.
Uliana Doronina played her high school ball at the Hoosac School and was named a NEPSGBA AAA All-Star.
Imani Mullings played at Plainfield High School in New Jersey and scored over 1,300 career points.
Ava Thomas attended the Mary Louis Academy and earned CHSAA First Team All-League honors.

A NEW ERA

Following a national search, Director of Athletics Greg Amodio has announced that Roman Owen has been named the next Quinnipiac University women's basketball head coach, as announced on Tuesday, April 7th.
Owen joins the Bobcats after spending the last six seasons as associate head coach at UNLV. During his time on Lindy La Rocque's staff with the Lady Rebels, he helped turn the program into the Mountain West's top-performing team – capturing four regular season championships and three conference tournament titles since 2020.
Before his time at UNLV, Owen served as an assistant coach at the University of North Texas during the 2019-2020 season. He coordinated all recruiting activities with the Mean Green. He also set all offensive game plans, designing and implementing strategies that led to the team posting its highest point total (65.6 PPG) since 2012-13.
Previously, Owen served as the recruiting coordinator for the University of Tulsa's Golden Hurricane during the 2018-2019 season.
Owen spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Yale (2015-18) before heading to Tulsa.
From 2013 to 2015, he served as the video coordinator for the University of Oklahoma. This role included assisting with day-to-day scouting and providing inspirational leadership for the program. • During his tenure, the Sooners appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
At the age of 25, Owen was named women's basketball head coach at Mid-America Christian University – where he led the program for three years.
He began his coaching career at Oklahoma City University (2008-10) as a men's assistant.

ADDING TO THE STAFF

In year one of the Coach Owen era, the Bobcats will have a brand-new coaching staff on the bench.
Coach Owen announced the additions of Adam Call, Kourtni Stevenson, and Amaya West to his staff.
Coach Call will serve as the Associate Head Coach, while both Coach Stevenson and Coach West were named assistant coaches.

JUST WIN BABY, WIN!!

M&T Bank Arena, home of the Quinnipiac Bobcats, has long been one of the most difficult arenas to play at in the country.
Since the 2012-13 season, Quinnipiac owns a record of 155-38 (.803) in games played at home.
In that same span, the Bobcats own a mark of 115-22 (.839) in conference play (NEC & MAAC) at home.
Quinnipiac owns a 190-82 (.699) mark since November 22, 2017.
The Bobcats stand with a mark of 105-22 (.827) at home in league games since joining the MAAC in 2013-14.
The Bobcats are 98-19 (.838) at M&T Bank Arena in conference games since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.

CLOSING TIME

Quinnipiac has enjoyed a great deal of success over the past five 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 throughout three seasons, came to an end at 46 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, the Bobcats own a mark of 218-21 (.912) since the start of 2014-15 in games in which Quinnipiac leads at the half.

ROAD WARRIORS

The Bobcats have proven to be one of the toughest teams to beat away from Hamden, Connecticut.
Over the last two seasons, the Bobcats hold a 27-4 record on the road.

NEXT TIME OUT

The Bobcats will make their first road trip of the season as they head to Burlington, Vermont, to take on the Catamounts in the first game of the America East - Metro Challenge.
Tip-off from Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vermont, is slated for 6 PM and can be seen on ESPN+.

To stay up to date with all Quinnipiac women's basketball news, follow the program on X/Instagram @QU_WBB or visit www.gobobcats.com/wbb.