Quinnipiac ousts Miami once again

Storrs — Quinnipiac wanted to show everyone that last year's run to the Sweet 16 wasn't a fluke.

Jen Fay led a balanced attack with 19 points and the ninth-seeded Bobcats beat Miami 86-72 on Saturday, eliminating the Hurricanes from the women's NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season.

Paula Strautmane had 15 points. Edel Thornton and Carly Fabbri each added 14 for Quinnipiac (285), which extended its winning streak to 23 games, a new school record.

“They love this stage,” said coach Tricia Fabbri. “They want to be in March. They want to be winning games in March.”

Next up for the Bobcats is topseed UConn.

Erykah Davenport led all scorers with 21 points for Miami. Emese Hof scored 16 and freshman Endia Banks added 15 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort. The eighth seed finishes its season at 21-11.

Miami led by three points after the first quarter, 35-32 at the half and 54-53 after the third.

“Just a disastrous fourth quarter for us,” said Miami coach Katie Meier. “We really lacked the discipline we played with for the first three quarters.”

A 3-pointer by QU's Brittany Martin and a traditional 3-point play by Edel Thornton, who put head down and banked in a shot through the contact with Davenport, sparked a 15-1 fourth-quarter Quinnipiac run. That gave the Bobcats a 74-61 lead and control of the game.

“I just wanted to win,” said Thornton. “I feel like the will to win made me do it.”

It was also a switch in strategy. The Bobcats went from a motion offense to their “Cat Set” a more running, penetrating style that led to the Bobcats getting some easy buckets, fouls and several key offensive rebounds.

“We set them up, what we were running for three quarters,” Fabbri said. “And then that total change in offensive flow and direction, just set them up that they were on their heels and we were able to go forward and really separate ourselves from that point forward in the fourth quarter.”

A 3-pointer by Fabbri, daughter of coach Tricia Fabbri, made it 8065 with less than two minutes to go, securing the win in front of a rowdy pro-Quinnipiac crowd about 60 miles north of the school's campus in Hamden.

The Bobcats were 10 of 31 from 3-point range after hitting 15 of 26 from behind the arc in last year's 85-78 second-round victory in Miami.