Women's Basketball Returns Home to Face UMBC - Quinnipiac University Athletics

Game #3: Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-1, 0-0 Metro) vs. UMBC Retrievers (2-0, 0-0 America East)
Sunday, November 8, 2026 | 2:00 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 back on their home floor as they close out the America East - Metro Challenge as they welcome the UMBC Retrievers to Hamden. Tip-off from M&T Bank Arena is slated for Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 PM and can be seen on ESPN+. This is the tenth ever meeting between the two teams.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
•   This will be the tenth meeting between Quinnipiac and UMBC.
•   Quinnipiac won their last meeting against the Retrievers, 66-47, back in 2003.
•   The Bobcats are coming off a 76-66 loss to the Vermont Catamounts on Thursday night. Lilly Thomas recorded her first double-double as a Bobcat, recording 22 points and 10 rebounds.
•   UMBC won their first game of the America East - Metro Challenge, defeating Mount St. Mary's, 79-53, with Angela Williams leading the way with 19 points.

BOBCATS DROP ROAD CONTEST AT VERMONT
•   The Quinnipiac women's basketball team dropped the first game of the America East – Metro Challenge to the University of Vermont, 76-66, on Thursday night in Burlington.
•   Lilly Thomas recorded her first double-double as a Bobcat with 22 points and 10 rebounds, with eight of those being offensive boards. First-years Alanna Benoit and Ava Thomas both reached double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively.
•   The Bobcats outrebounded the Catamounts, 49-32. QU grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and 31 defensive boards.
•   Quinnipiac shot 42.9% from the field, while Vermont shot 40% from the field.

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 RETRIEVERS
•   UMBC is led by head coach Candice Hill, who is in her third season at UMBC. Hill holds a 33-30 overall record in her three seasons as a head coach.
•   The Retrievers dominated from start to finish as they picked up a 92-29 victory over Stevenson in the 2026-2027 season opener on Monday night. Three Retrievers reached double figures in the win, with Heidi Williams leading the way with 19 points.
•   UMBC women's basketball played smothering defense in the first half and caught fire offensively in the second half in a 79-53 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Thursday night. Angela Williams dropped 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting (66.7%) from the field.
•   As a team, UMBC is shooting 45.6% (68-149) from the field, 29.8% from three (14-47), and 60% (21-35) from the charity stripe.
•   UMBC is outrebounding their opponents, 89-60, this season.
•   The Retrievers were selected to finish second in the America East Preseason Poll with 57 points and two first-place votes.
•   Heidi Williams was named to the Preseason All-Conference team after averaging 11.1 PPG, 5,7 RPG, and 1.8 SPG in 32 games last season.

HISTORY VS. UMBC
•   Sunday's matchup marks the tenth time the Bobcats and Retrievers are facing off in program history.
•   The Bobcats lead the all-time series, 5-4.
•   Their last matchup was a 66-47 win for UMBC over the Bobcats back on March 8, 2003.

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 191-83 (.697) 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 three seasons (2024-now), the Bobcats hold a 27-5 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 head back on the road as they head to Queens, NY, to take on St. John's on Wednesday, November 11.
•   Tip-off from Carnesecca 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.

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Players Mentioned

Mya Alston

Alanna Benoit

Uliana Doronina

Payton Dulin

Paige Girardi

Kayla Hopson

Maria Kealy

Imani Mullings

Ana Ramos Pires

Elle Snyder

Ava Sollenne

Ava Thomas

Lilly Thomas

Leila Washington

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