Bobcats meet familiar foe in first round

STORRS — They huddled around the TV Monday night, players with their smartphone cameras trained on the screen in anticipation of the NCAA Tournament announcement.

When their name was called during the ESPN selection show, the Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team cheered — they were ticketed for Gampel Pavilion for a rematch with Quinnipiac, the program that eliminated them a year ago in Florida.

So how exactly did Miami coach Katie Meier process another meeting with the Bobcats, this time in a venue 59 miles from Quinnipiac’s Hamden campus?

“I thought it was odd,” Meier said Friday. “That’s the word I used.”

An NCAA Tournament berth is typically an opportunity to see a new opponent. But for Quinnipiac and Miami, it’s March Madness, redux.

Only this time, the setting is not sunny South Florida. In the first round last year, Quinnipiac upset No. 5 Marquette before advancing to the Sweet 16 with a win over No. 4 Miami in Coral Gables.

Fast-forward to this weekend and the programs will meet again, squaring off in the building Quinnipiac coach Tricia Fabbri calls the mecca of women’s college basketball.

“Seeing Miami go up there (in the bracket), it felt like we have a homeand-home coming up,” Fabbri said.

Fabbri said she has watched last year’s game, so scouting this opponent did not require much work. But the Hurricanes (21-10) are a considerably different team this season, after graduating three starters and integrating five freshmen into the lineup.

Miami finished the regular season with six wins in eight games before beating Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament.

“We’re very happy with the season we had,” Meier said. “We finished really well. There’s probably not another team in the country that grew as much.”

Consider this: Miami scored one point in the first quarter of a loss at Colorado in the third game of the season Nov. 18.

“I did not think I’d be sitting here with an NCAA (tournament) tag on my chest,” Meier said. “So we really put the work in and we had tremendous leadership.”

Said Fabbri: “There was great respect in seeing Miami again. Katie Meier has done a fantastic job with a young team. For her to get them back into the NCAA Tournament speaks a lot about what she’s capable of and great at doing . ... Those young girls have grown up quite a bit. We’re going to have our hands full.”

Miami starts two freshmen (Mykea Gray and Endia Banks), but seniors Erykah Davenport and Keyanna Harris have provided stability as returning starters. Davenport (12.3 points, 8.6 rebounds) has been the team’s best player and she relishes another opportunity to face Quinnipiac.

“We did think of the loss we took last year,” Davenport sad. “Just naturally, it’s your instinct to think about what we went through last year with a season-ending loss. Revenge and redemption are not the first two words we are thinking about … it’s more so we’re on our toes, we’re excited, it fueled us.

“To have another opportunity to play on the hardwood for 40 minutes is always a privilege. We’re taking advantage of this privilege and this opportunity. So we’re really excited as a team.”

What went wrong for Miami last year? Meier said the loss was more a product of Quinnipiac’s performance than Miami’s failing.

“We go beat,” Meier said. “They had better shot-makers than we did that day. This wasn’t some albatross that hung over my neck for a year. That would be disrespectful to the program that Trish has built.”

This time, Miami will face Quinnipiac in a hostile environment. The Bobcats quickly sold their allotment of tickets and there should be a strong contingent of fans supporting Fabbri’s team.

For a program that’s on the rise, playing an NCAA Tournament game in Connecticut is significant.

“That makes this experience not only different, but possibly even more special going forward into (Saturday),” Fabbri said. “UConn fans adopted us last year. Now our fans, who continue to grow with us, get to be (here) and witness it live. That’s what I’m really looking forward to.”