Hamden made it drizzle, Iona made it rain

Hamden made it drizzle, Iona made it rain
By Kevin Lo
March 19, 2008

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Bobcats fell to Iona 71-59 in their first ever postseason appearance for the Quinnipiac women’s basketball program at the Division I level in tonight’s first round NIT game.

The Bobcats struggled to find their rhythm early and trailed at the half 43-30. They never had the opportunity to get close as Iona’s superior post play was able to stretch the lead.

Iona outscored the Bobcats 36-26 in the paint and out rebounded the Bobcats 46-31. Anna McLean led Iona in both scoring and in rebounds with 24 points and 18 boards.

Iona also shot well from the perimeter as they hit 9-19 of their 3 point attempts.

The Bobcats caught a tough break with 12 minutes to go in the second half when Erin Kerner went down with an injury to her left leg. She returned to the game minutes later but this time injured her right leg and was forced to sit out for good.

During this span Quinnipiac was able to cut it to 10 but it would not be enough. The Bobcats actually outscored Iona in the second 29-28 but the huge deficit they faced from the first half would make a comeback improbable.

The Bobcats struggled to keep it close throughout the first half. Both teams came out in a full court press and kept the defensive pressure high for the first few minutes of the game.

QU had a tough time finding a rhythm offensively early on. They seemed to do their best work on the break and at the line. Catherine Lutz went on a tear late in the first half and stopped a potentially huge Quinnipiac run. She poured in 4 straight threes from the 3 point line and helped stretch the Iona lead to 12.

Mandy Pennewell led the team with 15 points and Brianna Rooney chipped in 13 points and 3 steals.

Bobcats stake claim to top spot in conference

Bobcats stake claim to top spot in conference
by Kevin Lo
February 23, 2008

HAMDEN – A back and forth affair ended in a 59-48 win for the Bobcats. The game was much closer than the score indicated as the #1 (Bobcats) and #2 (Sacred Heart) teams fought to the final minute in today’s game.

After two missed Sacred Heart threes, Mandy Pennewell was fouled. She approached the line and calmly sunk two of her four free throws in the last minute of the game to make it a 12 point lead.

Sacred Heart tried to rally back after Lisa Moray sank a jumper from the corner but it wasn’t enough. Monique Lee was then fouled and sent to the line where her one free throw put Sacred Heart behind by 11 and ended the game 59-48.

After a back and forth first half, the Bobcats extended the lead to 8: the largest lead in the first 35 minutes of the game. The Bobcats growing momentum forced Sacred Heart to call a time out but it was too late.

Quinnipiac gained a 9 point advantage with 2:30 to go and never looked back. Sacred Heart was unable to cut the lead as both teams continued to exchange baskets until there was a minute left in the game.

The Bobcats did a great job of handling Sacred Heart’s full court press compared to the first half. In the first half the Bobcats were pressured by the Pioneers in the lane and in the backcourt which led to 9 turnovers. In the second half the team committed a mere 5 turnovers.

Quinnipiac’s 29 first half rebounds allowed them to keep the game close until they were able to take better care of the ball in the second half. Quinnipiac showed promise at the end of the first half with a 7-2 run with under 2 minutes left in the half, showing they were able to break the press.

The Bobcats sloppy play allowed Sacred Heart to jump to an early 17-14 lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half. Sacred Heart seemed more aggressive at times and reached the foul line 4 times in the first half whereas the Bobcats failed to reach the line at all.

Sacred Heart cooled off from the field in the second half as they saw their field-goal percentage drop from 28.6% to 22.8%. Quinnipiac on the other hand was able to take advantage of second chance opportunities and good shots down low as they were able to outrebound Sacred Heart 53-39.

Erin Kerner and Mandy Pennewell both finished with 17 points and Nicole Duperron added a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Bobcats are now 22-3 (14-1 NEC), matching their largest win total in the program’s Division I history.

Bobcats hang on against Central

Bobcats hang on against Central
by Kevin Lo
February 11, 2008

HAMDEN, Conn. – With 1:51 left the Central Connecticut Blue Devils managed to cut what was once a 15 point Quinnipiac lead to just 5. The Bobcats lead by 4 with a minute left until Kerrianne Dugan snuck in the paint for a put back to cut the lead to 2. Brianna Rooney was sent to the line and hit both with 18.7 left to lift Quinnipiac back to a four point lead. A last second lay-up attempt by Jhaney Harris was no good and Erin Kerner was fouled with 2.6 seconds left. After making both free throws, the final read 72-66 Quinnipiac.

The Bobcats won their fourth game in a row, 72-66, as they survived a late rally by the Central Connecticut Blue Devils.

The first half was filled with ups, downs and plenty of three pointers. The Bobcats took an early 8 point lead at the 12:40 mark but struggled to defend it. Central Connecticut continued to chip away at the lead with a barrage of threes. They got as close as 5, three times but just couldn’t seemed to pull away with the lead.

Timely three pointers kept Central Connecticut close but the Bobcats capitalized on too many turnovers. They scored 16 points on turnovers in the first half while Central Connecticut was only able to muster a mere 5 points.

Erin Kerner and Nicole Duperron complied almost half the offenses points in the first half going for 12 and 8 points. Kerner was 4-7 from downtown and Duperron was 4-4 from the field.

The start of second half began in a similar fashion. The Blue Devils continued to take stabs at the lead but could not seem to break away from the 10 point deficit. The Bobcats continued to gradually build their lead and led by 12 with 11 left in the second half.

The Bobcats worked their way up to a 15 point lead at the 9 minute mark. They led by at least 10 for most off the second half as Central Connecticut continued to struggle offensively until the 5 minute mark where they cut the deficit to single digits and made it a 2 point game at the end.

Quinnipiac dominated in the paint doubling the Blue Devils scoring output 20-10. They also capitalized on the Blue Devils turnovers scoring 22 points compared to the Blue Devils 15 off turnovers.

Quinnipiac returns to action Saturday, when they travel to Emmitsburg, Md., to take on Mount St. Mary’s. Opening tip is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Knott Arena.

Women’s Hoops rolls through Wagner

Women’s Hoops rolls through Wagner
by Kevin Lo
February 9, 2008

HAMDEN, Conn. – The Bobcats took an early lead at the half, 43-19, and never looked back. They started the second half on a 22-2 run that spanned over the next 8 minutes of the game and finished the game with a 79-35 win.

The Bobcats held Wagner to only 6 second half points through the first 15 minutes of the half. They finished the half with 16 points.

With 11 minutes left to go in the first half the Bobcats decided enough was enough. The two teams traded baskets for the first 9 min of the game until strong post play by the Bobcats allowed them to pull away.

Courtney Kaminski and Nicole Duperron dominated the low post finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds and 10 points and 7 rebounds respectively. The Bobcats outscored Wagner 38 -6 in the paint and out rebounded them 51 – 23. The second chance opportunities allowed Quinnipiac to score easily and lengthen their leads.

The Bobcats suffocating defense forced Wagner to commit 25 turnovers which lead to 38 of Quinnipiac’s points.

Wagner shot 16% in the second half and finished with 16 points in the half. They shot 24% overall and struggled to find a rhythm in the 2nd half offensively and defensively as they were plagued by moving pick and traveling calls.

Erin Kerner led the team with 18 points and Mandy Pennewell chipped in 12 points as they helped lead a balanced attack where each starter scored at least seven points.

This was the Bobcats second win in a row and third at home. Their next game is Monday, Feb. 11 when they host Central Connecticut State at 5 p.m. at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn.

In a Flash, Bobcats win

In a Flash, Bobcats win
Written by Kevin Lo
February 4, 2008

HAMDEN — The Bobcats returned home from a three game road trip with a tidy conference resume of 8-1, and an overall record of 16-3, good for first in the conference. They squared off against the St. Francis (PA) Red Flash tonight for the second and final time this season. The last time the two squared off the Bobcats won 72-61 on the Red Flash’s home floor.

Quinnipiac started the game great defensively. They pressured the Red Flash in their first possession and forced a turnover which led to a three pointer by Erin Kerner, the first basket of the game by Quinnipiac. The relentless defense continued as Quinnipaic’s backcourt pressure forced a turnover on the St. Francis’ next inbound pass resulting in a Pennewell three ball. The Bobcats shot 3-4 from the perimeter and had the hot hand early on resulting in an 11-4 lead 8 minutes into the game.

The next 8 minutes would belong to the Red Flash. They rallied back from a seven point deficit to make it 19-17 with 6:47 to go. Quinnipiac’s post defense was tormented by Whitney Robinson who scored 8 of her 10 first half points in the paint. They were also out rebounded 14-9 in this stretch allowing Red Flash to score off easy second chance opportunities.

The two teams continued to battle for the lead until there were 3 minutes left in the half. Kerner and Brianna Rooney hit back to back threes for QU to help stretch the lead to 10. The Bobcats finished the half up 31-21.

The Red Flash looked sharp coming out of the huddle as Britney Hodges stole the ball and finished with an uncontested layup at the other end. The Red Flash seemed to figure out a way to beat the back court press for the first half of the second half. The Flash faced a six point deficit until the 14:50 mark when Kerner’s tough jumper gave Quinnipiac an 8 point lead. Kaminski began to add to the lead with a pair of free throws stretching the lead to 12, at the 13 minute mark, the biggest of the night.

Both teams continued to score over the next six minutes but the lead change wouldn’t change. Rooney hit a 3, after getting knocked down hard, at the 9:50 mark to stretch the lead to 15. At the 5:34 mark Kaminski was fouled and finished an and 1 at the line stretching the lead to 13. She scored the next two straight QU offensive possessions giving them an 11 point lead with 3:18 to go. The Red Flash’s Samatha Leech hit back to back buckets to try and keep the deficit at 10. Britney Hodges fast break layups kept the Flash in the game for the last 2 minutes but they just couldn’t seem to capture the lead. Kerner sealed it with 21 seconds left with a baseline jumper from the right side leaving the final score 65-58.

Three Bobcats finished in double figures. Courtney Kaminski finished with 17 points, Erin Kerner added 15 points and Brianna Rooney scored 13. Nicole Dupperron also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Samantha Leach played well for the Red Flash with 10 points and no turnovers while Whiteny Robinson and Britney Hodges both chipped in with 16 points.

Quinnipiac Women Scorching Northeast Conference

Quinnipiac Women Scorching Northeast Conference
By Zach Smart

After a second-rate 2006-2007 campaign which culminated in a frustrating first round flame-out, the Quinnipiac women’s basketball team has officially bounced back on the map.

The Bobcats have ripped off a six-game win streak—all against Northeast Conference foes—to seize sole possession of first place in the conference.

Quinnipiac (15-2, 7-0 NEC) has registered the best record in program history and apparently regained the confidence it displayed two seasons ago, when a callow crew took the world by storm, advancing all the way to the conference championship game.

But Coach Tricia Sacca-Fabbri and company are looking beyond that this year, as the Bobcats have all the tools necessary to emerge into a lock for the NCAA tournament.

Where does the success start with this ostensibly untouchable Bobcat team?

Check the backcourt.

Junior point guard Erin Kerner has once again surfaced as a player of the year candidate, after a program and fan base was collectively foiled following her season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament last season.

Kerner, who’s averaging a team-high 16 points to go with 3.8 dimes per game, has been the straw that stirs a well-balanced offensive drink.

The junior from Erie, Pa. etched her name in the record books during a dizzying, 62-60 win over Long Island on January 19. Kerner blitzed the Blackbirds to the tune of 25 points and surpassed the 1,000-point benchmark in the process.

Kerner is just the sixth player to hit for the century mark since Quinnipiac was elevated to the Division-I ranks.

Whether it’s burying pull-up and mid-range jump shots, dialing in from downtown, freezing opponents with a killer crossover or simply burning them with quick, strong slashes to the bucket, Kerner has been a problem this season.

Classmate Brianna Rooney has also been efficient, applying the tight defensive pressure needed to throw prolific scorers out of their groove. Rooney, who has also sprung back from her share of injuries, recently established herself as Quinnipiac’s all-time steals leader with 159. Heading into Saturday’s game at Sacred Heart, the onus will be on Rooney, a Guilford-bred combo guard, to keep guards Alisa Apo and Stephanie Ryan—a transfer via Fairfield— in check.

While her birth certificate reads “Brianna,” anyone who knows Rooney calls her “Breezy.” Fitting, because Rooney breezed through the jump to the Division-I level, garnering multiple NEC Rookie of the Week accolades her freshman season.

The impact Sacca-Fabbri’s 2005 recruiting class has made, however, transcends Rooney and Kerner—who in not even two full seasons has skyrocketed to small-school stardom.

Three-point sniper Mandy Pennewell and guard/forward Kathleen Neyens (whose back from a one-year hiatus due to a leg injury) have both panned out since helping the Bobcats conclude that magical 2005-2006 ride with a 22-8 record (15-3 NEC), four points of qualifying for their first-ever NCAA tournament.

But the Bobcats wouldn’t stand at 7-0 without one of the conference’s toughest forwards in Monique Lee. For four years Lee has made her presence felt in the frontcourt, patrolling the paint and finding ways to score. A tournament-bid would be nothing short of a storybook ending for the senior from Lynn, Mass. Nicole Duperron and Courtney Kaminksi provide stability in this solid frontcourt.

The Bobcats endured a myriad of daunting challenges this season, scoring wins over first-class programs such as San Diego State. When Kerner was sidelined with a one-game injury, the Bobcats took the Big East’s Seton Hall into overtime. Thus, a heartbreaking 69-64 loss could have actually been a signature victory.

Not to worry.

Kerner will be back in full throttle Saturday.

These could be uncharted waters for the Bobcats, with Saturday’s game at no.2-Sacred Heart serving as a major barometer.

Erin Kerner named WQAQ Sports Athlete of the Week

WQAQ Sports names Erin Kerner Athlete of the Week

HAMDEN — The WQAQ Sports Department has named women’s basketball standout Erin Kerner as its Athlete of the Week for the week ending on January 22.

Kerner, over the course of the season, has led her team in scoring with 16.0 points a game. This week, the junior from Erie, PA led her team by netting 25 points, including the 1,000th of her Quinnipiac career in a 2 point win over NEC pre-season favorite Long Island on Saturday.

On Monday, Kerner continued shooting with her hot hand, scoring 17 of her 21 points in the second half of a matinee Martin Luther King Jr. Day shellacking of St. Francis (NY).

Kerner’s Bobcats are off to the best start in school history at 15-2, including an unblemished 7-0 in Northeast Conference play. The team has also been listed on the ESPN/USA Today Coaches top 25 poll as a team “recieving votes” for the past two weeks. 

The Bobcats are back in action on Saturday when they play the second of a three game road trip at NEC foe Sacred Heart. They won’t return to the TD Banknorth Sports Center until February 4th, in a game that will be broadcasted by the Bobcats Sports Network presented by WQAQ.

#  #  #

Kerner Springs Back From Injury

Kerner Springs Back From Injury
By Zach Smart

HAMDEN — Typically, when a player suffers a season-ending injury, the road to recovery and aftermath can generate anxiety.

A myriad of top-flight players–the Miami Heat’s Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, the Pheonix Suns’ Grant Hill, and Sam Bowie, the injury-prone stiff who was actually selected before a guy named Michael Jordan in the NBA Draft gaffe of a lifetime –to name a few, have seen their careers see-saw or go sledding downhill due to injury.

When Erin Kerner, Quinnipiac’s standout point guard, suffered a season-ending injury with a torn anterior cruciate ligament last year, a program and fan base was collectively foiled.

Kerner’s injury morphed her into a lynchpin on the Quinnipiac bench down the stretch of the 2006-2007 campaign, and it allowed the skeptics to surface.

They said with an injury of this magnitude, Kerner might not be the same player once she’s thrust back into the fold.

Nine games into 2007-2008 campaign, it appears Kerner is not the same player who emerged as the leading Northeast Conference Player of the Year candidate before the injury.

She’s better.

With an arsenal of mid-range jumpers and quick slashes to the cup, Kerner gave an efficient account of herself on Dec.22. The sublime showing helped shoot Quinnipiac’s record to 8-1, as the Bobcats scored a 70-60 victory over neighboring rival Yale before a strongly bi-partisan crowd of 854.

Kerner led all scorers with 25 points. The combo guard shot a whopping 11-for-14 from the floor and handed out three assists in 36 minutes. The Bobcats shot a sizzling 28-for-50 (54 percent) from the field.

“She hasn’t missed a beat,” said Quinnipiac coach Tricia Sacca-Fabbri. “She is so poised and calm. When the ball is in her hands, I don’t have to worry. She just does everything so well for us.”

Sacca-Fabbri also added that Kerner, a junior, has improved by leaps and bounds.

It’s more than the longtime Bobcats coach could have asked from her stud guard, who was flushed into a leadership role this season.

Kerner spent nearly her entire summer on Quinnipiac’s quaint campus, working with trainers five days a week and refining elements of her game. The gem of a revitalized 2005 recruiting class that laid the foundation for future success, Kerner explained that the hard work helped streamline the recovery process. She admitted, however, that being cocked in Connecticut didn’t make for the most exhilarating summer.

The Erie, Pa. native and gymrat did get a chance to spend a week at home before the burdens of the first semester materialized.

Some vacation.

Kerner and the Bobcats will look forward to a more enlivening vacation on Dec. 28, as they fly out to sunny California for the prestigious San Diego Slam Jam.

Sacca-Fabbri sees the event as a chance for the Hamden school to register its presence on the West Coast.

“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for this program,” she said.

In her first game back from the injury, Kerner cooked Brown University to the tune of 21 points in 18 minutes of an 85-41 wash-out. She shot 8-for-12 from the floor, letting the entire conference know that she’s re-surfaced into the landscape.

The Bobcats controlled the tempo early and often Saturday, snapping a two-game win streak for Yale (2-6), whose youth was evident in the loss.

It must feel good to avenge an ugly loss, especially when it’s the cross-town rival.

“Absolutely,” Kerner said.  “We went into their gym last year and played terrible. We came out today much more fired up and focused.”

It wasn’t the most memorable of homecomings for Queen Smith, a first-year Yale assistant coach who established herself as a surefire Hall of Fame selection during an outstanding career at Quinnipiac.

The Bulldogs simply had no answer for Kerner, whose fast break lay-in pumped the vaulted the Bobcats to an 18-5 lead they wouldn’t squander early in the first half.

Lights-out shooting from guards Kathleen Neyens (11 points) and Mandy Pennewell (15 points) was paramount to success throughout.

Senior stalwart Monique Lee bulldozed the Bulldogs for 11 points and six boards in 27 minutes. Lee and classmate Nicole Dupperon (game-high nine rebounds) sealed the basket shut down low, forcing Yale to take nearly one-third of their shots from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs shot 7-of-19 from three-point land, balancing their abysmal shooting from the field (where they went an Alaska-cold 14-for-41).

Out of the gates, Quinnipiac capped a 13-2 spurt with a Neyens trey from the left-corner. This bucket ballooned the lead to 18 with a thread under five minutes remaining.

But Yale rapidly broke out of their funk, ripping off a 9-0 run in three minutes.

Pennewell thwarted the run with a three-pointer of her own, making it 30-18 with 1:38 left.

Yale fought valiantly in a second half that the Bobcats opened up on an 11-0 run.

But in the end, it was too little, too late for the youth-laden Ivy League club.

“I’m very pleased to be 8-1 leading into Christmas,” explained Sacca-Fabbri. 

“We had control of the game.”

For Kerner, it’s just another page in the stellar career she’s authored in not even two full seasons.

When all is said and done, will the WNBA scouts—who gave Sacred Heart’s Amanda Pape considerable looks last year—come calling for the blink-quick, 5-foot-8 guard?

It’s not for certain, but something else is: It’s going to take more than an ACL injury to rattle her.

Reunions To Take Place In Backdoor Rivalry Game

Reunions To Take Place In Backdoor Rivalry Game
By Zach Smart

                                                       

     At the edge of the quaint campus of Quinnipiac University sits the bandbox Burt Kahn basketball court—where Queen Smith used to score in clusters, deliver pinpoint passes and lock up the opposing team’s top scorer.

Smith, then known as Queen Edwards (her maiden name), wrapped up a storied four-year stay as a Bobcat in 1996.

Smith stamped her imprint at Quinnipiac, then a burgeoning Division-II school in the Northeast-10. The New Haven native played with a dish-before-swish mentality, establishing herself as the second all-time leader in assists (476) and 12^th in scoring (1,207 points).

Smith was known throughout the eastern seaboard mainly for her defensive prowess, as she garnered three NEC Defensive Player of the Year awards from 1993-95.

Smith, who’s in her first season as an assistant with Yale, will be back near her old stomping grounds today.

The Bulldogs are set to battle at Quinnipiac, which has since moved into the extravagant TD Banknorth Sports Complex, today at 1PM.

It’s a homecoming that Smith admits she’s giddy about.

“I’m real excited about it. I know my girls are excited about it as well. It’s always nice coming back to your alma mater, and it’s really a homecoming on both sides.”

It is.

Smith isn’t the only one being reunited with some familiar faces today. There’s another intriguing subplot to this matchup. This one has a student-teacher angle to it.

The elder stateswoman is Yale assistant coach Dianne Nolan, who coached Quinnipiac’s head coach Tricia Sacca-Fabbri, during her 28-year stay as the head coach at Fairfield University. Sacca-Fabbri is currently a member of the Fairfield Hall of Fame. She eclipsed the 1,600-point milestone and grabbed 1,037 boards while authoring a legendary career with the Stags.

The Bobcats have jumped out of the gates box cutter-sharp, winning seven of their first eight games of the 2007-2008 campaign.

Yale, which won last season’s meeting between the two teams, dropped their first four games—two to national powerhouses Stanford and Arizona State–but have bounced back by running off consecutive victories.

Smith said she wouldn’t really be delving into the sentimental aspects of her return to Quinnipiac, though it will be an emotional game for her.

She said she’s more focused on trying to jack the Bulldogs’ win streak to three games as they round out their out-of-conference slate.

To do that, however, the Bulldogs will likely need to neutralize the inside/outside tandem of Monique Lee and Erin Kerner.

“We need to come to play,” explained Smith. “What we’ve really emphasized (preparing for Quinnipiac) is to not deviate from our game plan. We need to come to play and stay with our offensive intensity. I think Kerner’s a really great player, she’s going to be tough (for anyone) to stop this season. If we stick to our game plan, however, I think we’re certainly capable of beating them.”

Smith was offered the vacant assistant coaching slot after working for Yale’s National Youth Sports Program the past ten years.

She developed a solid relationship with Yale head coach Chris Gobrecht and jumped at the opportunity to hop aboard.

“So far so good,” said Smith of how her first Division-I coaching season has gone. We’ve played some very tough teams early on, but now we’re really starting to communicate and getting into where we need to be before conference play.”

Few members of this year’s Bobcats team really know what Smith did for the University.

Kerner does.

“She really left a lasting legacy here at Quinnipiac,” said Kerner, a point guard who leads the Bobcats with 15 points and 3.6 assist per game.

Smith and Kerner met over the summer through a mutual friend—Kerner’s cousin, and got to know each other.

“It would be an honor to do the same thing that (Queen) did here, to leave that same kind of mark. I know she was a special player here.”

Back to Back Wins Blow Seawolves Away

Back to Back Wins Blow Seawolves Away
By: Kevin Lo and Jon Leach
November 29, 2007

HAMDEN — Coming off a compelling consolation game at U. Maine’s Dead River Tournament, where QU defeated host U. Maine and finished third, the Bobcats returned home to pick up a win against the Stony Brook Seawolves on Thursday night in Hamden. This was their third win of the season and their second straight win in dramatic fashion. The Bobcats defeated the Seawolves 58-41 and have now improved to 3-1 overall this season.

Both teams got off to a rough start. Stony Brook committed four straight turnovers on their first four offensive possessions and seemed hot and bothered by the Bobcats suffocating defense. “We had a lot of different defensive schemes” claimed coach Tricia Fabbri. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, they failed to capitalize in the opening minutes of the game as they shot 1-5 from the field and didn’t score until the 17:30 mark. Stony Brook didn’t score their first basket until the 15:30 mark.

The Seawolves were down 8-5 six minutes into the game, and that’s the closest they would get. Less than 10 min into the opening half, the Bobcats held a 22-13 lead, but they weren’t done yet. The Bobcats shot, slashed and scored their way to a 33-10 run to finish the half. Mandy Pennewell proved to be a key player in that explosive first half as she scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half. Stony Brook shot an abysmal 19% from the field and committed 10 turnovers leading to a 41-18 deficit at the end of the first half.

The beginning of the second half was pretty much the same for both teams. Stony Brook continued to struggle from the field and the Bobcats continued to play tough defense and run the floor en route to easy buckets. 11 minutes into the game Stony Brook began to slowly make a dent in QU’s 20 point lead. With 5 minutes remaining, Stony Brook found themselves down 18 with the score 54-36 Quinnipiac. The Bobcats bared down defensively and held the Sea Wolves to 5 points over the last 5 min of the game.   

Overall Stony Brook struggled the whole game, shooting just 22% from the floor. It was a rough game for both teams who both shot under 40% and committed close to 20 turnovers each but QU found a way to bring that first half intensity and close out the second half.  

Mandy Pennewell shot 6-10 from the floor with 3 threes for a total of 15 pts “when you get hot, you get hot,” she said in her response to her high shooting percentage and downtown daggers. Her efforts combined with Erin Kerner’s 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks accounted for a great deal of the Bobcats success. Monique Lee came close to a double-double with 10 points and 8 rebounds despite one of her lesser performances from the field. Four players from Quinnipiac scored at least 10 point with Brianna Rooney being the fourth, netting her 10 through a series of fast break layups and free throws. 

The Bobcats face Holy Cross next in their last game before conference play. In order to win Fabbri claimed the Bobcats “have to change everything.” We’ll see if her constant switching of defensive screens and intensity will be enough to propel the Bobcats to a win over Holy Cross.