The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Quinnipiac rolls past Marist for title
ALBANY, N.Y — It was the night before the game Quinnipiac women’s basketball coach Tricia Fabbri’s team had been preparing for all season long when the veteran coach was jolted by the surprising sight of the normally cool, calm and collected fifth-year senior Jen Fay looking just a tad bit nervous.
Perhaps if it had been one of the other players, Fabbri would have shrugged it off but not “Big
Game” Jen Fay who had 48 points in three NCAA tournament victories in the last two seasons and 39 in the previous two MAAC title games. Fabbri had a little heart-toheart with her star and the rest, as they say, is history.
Fay had 25 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and two steals as Quinnipiac defeated Marist 81-51 on Monday at the Times Union Center to win the MAAC tournament for the third year in a row and fourth time in the last five seasons.
“I actually think she was really nervous,” Fabbri said after the Bobcats extended their MAAC winning streak to 52 games and clinched the program’s fifth NCAA tournament appearance. “I could be really wrong, I think her face to me looked really nervous. I had her one-on-one just by chance last night. I feel like they have all been so calm and comfortable and she said, ‘I am so nervous, I just have this pit in my stomach.’ ”
Fay credited the morning shootaround, where a few made jump shots led to the anxiety quickly dissipating. She had nine points in the first quarter and 16 by halftime. When the game ended, Fay earned tournament most outstanding player honors and will become the first player in program history to play in four NCAA tournaments.
“She can shoot the 3, she is a good passer too,” said Marist junior guard Grace Vander Weide. “You have to respect her and you can’t help (playing) completely off of others on the floor because you know she can get others the ball, she is tough. She can do it all.”
Aryn McClure had 18 points and eight rebounds, Edel Thornton added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists and Paul Strautmane had 10 as Quinnipiac and Belmont are the two Division I women’s programs who have won regular season and conference titles in each of the last three seasons. UConn can join that club with a win in Monday night’s American Athletic Conference, while Drake (Missouri Valley Conference) and Gonzaga (WCC) could also join that club.
Marist made its first six shots, half of them coming from 3-point range to take the early five-point lead. The Bobcats answered back on 3-pointers by Taylor Herd and Fay to take the lead briefly. Lovisa Henningsdottir and Vander Weide hit back-toback 3-pointers for Marist which took a 20-18 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Marist forced Quinnipiac to be a jump-shooting team in the early going by clogging up the lane as 11 of the Bobcats’ first 20 shots were from 3point range.
Marist coach Brian Giorgis shook his head in the press conference after the game when asked about the strategy of clogging the lane and encouraging the Bobcats to try to beat his team from the perimeter. The Bobcats promptly set a season high with 11 made 3-pointers.
“They hadn’t been shooting the 3 for us, we even went to the 2-3 zone because we noticed that Fairfield had a lot of success with it and they made shots,” Giorgis said. “Maybe they just like seeing Marist red out there because they made shots today, that is what we wanted to make them do. We told our kids we would tip our cap to them and we tip our cap to them.”
Next up for Quinnipiac is the announcement of the NCAA tournament bracket on Monday.