QU Opens America East - Metro Challenge At Vermont - Quinnipiac University Athletics

Thursday, November 5

Burlington, VT

7:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

Vermont

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Women's Basketball Bench Reactions in Win Over St. Joseph's (LI) (Nov. 2, 2026 in Hamden, CT)

Photo by: Ava Giorgi

11/4/2026 1:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game #2: Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-0, 0-0 Metro) at Vermont Catamounts (1-0, 0-0 America East)
Thursday, November 5, 2026 | 7:00 PM
Burlington, Vermont | Patrick Gymnasium
Watch (ESPN+): Click Here | Live Stats: Click Here | Game Notes: Click Here | @QU_WBB

BURLINGTON, VT– The Quinnipiac women's basketball team hits the road for the first time of the 2026-27 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 is slated for Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7 PM and can be seen on ESPN+.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

This will be the sixth meeting between Quinnipiac and Vermont.
The Bobcats are coming off a win over St. Joseph's (LI), 82-45, in their season opener on Monday.
Coach Owen won his first game as a head coach at the Division I level.
Vermont won their season opener, defeating Keene State, 96-37, on Monday night in Vermont.
Coach Magarity won her first game at Vermont and recorded her first win as a head coach since the 2023-24 season.

SNYDER POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE IN SEASON OPENING WIN

The Quinnipiac women's basketball team kicked off the Coach Owen era with a 37-point win over the St. Joseph's (Long Island) Golden Eagles on Monday night in Hamden. All twelve Bobcats that appeared in the contest recorded at least one point in the win, led by Elle Snyder and Lilly Thomas with 14 points each.
Quinnipiac shot 40.2% from the field (33-for-82) and 72.7% from the free-throw line (8-for-11).
Quinnipiac's 37-point victory was fueled by a 71-35 scoring advantage over the final three quarters.

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS

Vermont is led by head coach Maureen Magarity, who is in her first season at Vermont. Magarity holds a 219-196 overall record and a 1-0 record at Vermont.
The Catamounts defeated Keene State, 96-37, on Monday night in Burlington. Ten Catamounts got on the score sheet, led by Sienna Papanastasiou-Thomas, who scored 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the floor. Two other Catamounts reached double figures, with Neta Mayshar scoring 18 and Emma Haan scoring 12.
As a team, Vermont shot 53.7% (36-67) from the field, 42.1% from three (16-38), and 80% (8-10) from the charity stripe.
Vermont outrebounded the Owls 44-29 in the win.
The Catamounts were selected to finish third in the America East Preseason Poll with 48 points and one first-place vote.
Malia Lenz was named to the Preseason All-Conference team after averaging 7.5 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 0.9 APG in 35 starts last season.

HISTORY VS. VERMONT

Thursday's matchup marks the sixth time the Bobcats and Catamounts are facing off in program history.
The Bobcats lead the all-time series, 4-1, and are 3-0 at Patrick Gymnasium.
In their last matchup, the Bobcats defeated the Catamounts, 68-63, back on December 15, 2024.

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).

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, transferring 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 156-38 (.804) in games played at home.
In that same span, the Bobcats own a mark of 115-22 (.839) in conference play (NEC, MAAC, and Metro) at home.
Quinnipiac owns a 191-82 (.699) mark since November 22, 2017.
The Bobcats stand with a mark of 105-22 (.827) at home in league games since joining the conference 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 219-21 (.913) 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.

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.

NEXT TIME OUT

The Bobcats will return to Hamden for the final game of the America East - Metro Challenge as they host the UMBC Retrievers on Sunday, November 8.
Tip-off from M&T Bank Arena is slated for 2 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.