Back-to-Back Tests Passed With Flying Colors

The Bobcats rode hot shooting (especially from Mandy Pennewell and Kathleen Neyens to beat Providence on Sunday. Even more remarkably, the Bobcats reeled off another solid performance on both sides of the ball against Hartford Wednesday night (yes, the same Hartford team that beat Duke!?) to cruise to a 73-61 win.

5 players in double figures. another double-double for Kathleen Neyens.

“We were ready to play tonight,” said Head Coach Tricia Fabbri. “I’m very proud of the complete effort I saw from this team against a very good Hartford team tonight.”

I’ll let the links do the talking this time.

QU vs. Hartford Box Score

Here’s the full Hartford Recap

I will add that the Bobcats are now 6-1 overall and really hitting their stride early in the season. Their first NEC test comes on Saturday against Monmouth at home (12 p.m. tip), the only team in the NEC to beat the Bobcats at the TDBNSC last season.

Bobcats host Blue Hens

VS                    

There’s one last game for the Bobcats to play (their 3rd in 4 days) before we can go home for a couple days for Thanksgiving. QU will host the Blue Hens (love that nickname) of the University of Delaware tomorrow night. The home-opener will tip Tuesday night at 7 at the TDBNSC.

Last year, the Bobcats went down to Delaware and got an impressive road win with hot shooting, which they had on Saturday against UVM, but not against Michigan State Sunday. Even though there’s little time to get over this past weekend, The Coaching Staff was already preparing for The Blue Hens on the bus ride back from Vermont, so hopefully the team will be ready to go again tomorrow night.

Weekend Split up in Vermont

Well even though the Bobcats weekend ended on a bad note, there were lots of positives that came away from the TD Banknorth Classic played up in Burlington, Vt…

On Saturday the Bobcats shocked the capacity crowd in the first semifinal game against the Catamounts. Sitting on the bench with the team was a thrill (to say the least) as they practically ran UVM out of their own gym, 72-53. After a rough start, the Bobcats closed the half on a 15-3 run, and then played very strong defense for the entire second half. Junior Sarah McGowan was a huge spark off of the bench with a perfect shooting day (5-5) and a total of 15 points. Also, 07-08 America East player of the year Courtnay Pilypaitis was held to only 7 points!

After QU had made their presence felt on Saturday in the first game, Dartmouth also made a big statement against Michigan State in the other semifinal. Though they lost in overtime 60-52, the Spartans were on the ropes for the entire game. Dartmouth really did get the raw end of the deal this weekend…look what happened in the unbelievable consolation game Sunday vs. Vermont!

So this set up the ultimate David vs. Goliath championship game on Sunday: The Quinnipiac Bobcats against the MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS. Well, I wish I could tell an amazing story of an improbable upset, but it just wasn’t in the cards yesterday. See for yourself here…

Overall, the win over the hosting Catamounts and the experience of a playing a top-tier Big Ten team like MSU will be good building blocks for the rest of the season.

Also, congratutlations to Erin Kerner, who made the all-tournament team!

Michigan State article on winning the tournament

Going way up North

For the entire weekend to UVM’s Patrick Gymnasium as the Bobcats are one of the four teams playing in the TD Banknorth Classic, alongside Vermont (who the Bobcats play Saturday), Dartmouth, and Michigan State.

First up for QU is the hosting Catamounts of Vermont. Tip-off Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m., while Dartmouth and Michigan State will square off at 4. The winners will play in Sunday’s championship game, and the losers will play in a consolation game.

As for the team, it was another tough week at practice, but improvement came with the team as a whole. This weekend, and Saturday’s game in particular, will be very good tests for the Bobcats defensively. UVM’s Courtnay Pilypaitis was 07-08 America East Player of the Year, and Vermont always boasts a very good team…

P.S.-Both games will be broadcast on the Bobcats Radio Network (1220 AM, wqun.com), or  purchase a live video feed of all 4 games for $7. We’ll be back Sunday night. GO BOBCATS!

Bobcats 08-09 Season Schedule/Results

Preview of Saturday’s game

A Weekend Sweep…

To start of the 08-09 season for the Bobcats, after winning consecutive road games on Friday and Sunday over Stony Brook and Brown. A good weekend for QU Basketball (both the men’s and women’s teams).

On Friday it was a very slippery, turnover-filled start to the Bobcats season, but the halftime break did them good. After being up by 1 at the break, QU continued to press full court and apply defensive pressure that was too much for the Seawolves to handle en route to a 59-45 victory. Freshman Felicia Barron had 14 points and 7 steals in her collegiate debut, while Co-Captain Erin Kerner led the scoring with 22.

Box Score or A Full Recap

Erin added another amazing shooting performance with 25 points Sunday to seal their second win over Brown. The Big 3 of Erin, Breezy Rooney and Mandy Pennewell combined for 55 of the team 79 points in the 79-62 win (Box Score)…and much like Friday’s opener, the team struggled with turnovers and getting off to a good start in each game. Still, 2-0 is 2-0 in the end.

After a couple of days off of the court, the Bobcats return to practice Wednesday, and will be heading up to Burlington, VT Friday for a tournament game against the hosting Catamounts of UVM on Saturday. The other matchup features Michigan State against Dartmouth, with the winners in a championship game on Sunday (there is also a 3rd place game).

Coach Fabbri Audio Soundbites

Via northeastconference.org, I came across a tele-conference that all of the NEC Coaches had last week, so i’ll post a couple of links from it:

Here’s Coach Fabbri answering an opening question about the team.

And here’s Coach Fabbri’s Question and Answer period with some local media who joined in on the tele-conference.

Preseason Wrap-Up and Opener Preview

The Bobcats have been hard at work practicing, and scrimmaged the University of New Haven and Villanova in the past couple weeks in preparation for the opener this Friday at Stony Brook.

The projected starting lineup for the Bobcats this Friday should feature Seniors Erin Kerner, Brianna Rooney, Mandy Pennewell, and Juniors Krystal Lazos and Kathleen Neyens, based on playing time in practices recently.

Also look for Sarah McGowan, Lailah Pratt, and Freshman Jacinda Dunbar and Felicia Barron to log most of the minutes off the bench for the Bobcats on Friday.

Quinnipiac and Stony Brook met last season on November 29, 2007 and the Bobcats came out on top 58-42 at the TDBNSC. Hopefully the Bobcats will be focused and ready to have a similar result on Stony Brook’s Court to start their year. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. Friday, and you can follow it all at quinnipiacbobcats.com and WQUN 1220 AM.

Here’s a complete preview of Friday’s game with notes, stats, and more…

Welcome Back

The 2008-2009 Bobcats season has officially started! Everything was kicked off on Friday with Midnight Madness at the TDBNSC. Here’s all of the photos from Friday night’s celebration. The turnout of students and fans was great!

 

The first practices this weekend were very tough, but Coach Tricia Fabbri has gotten everyone pumped up already for the season. Here’s what you may have missed, and what you need to know about the Bobcats for this season:

 

-         Coach Fabbri recently signed add an extension to her contract, keeping her here through the 2012-2013 season (full story)

-         Fabbri also added Tom Blake too her coaching staff, to replace assistant coach Tony Barone who retired this offseason (full story)

-         The Lady Bobcats will have a TV game on NESN when they host Big East opponent Providence on December 3 at 8 p.m. (full TV schedule)

-         The Bobcats are also taking part in a charity event. The Quinnipiac University women’s basketball team will be participating in the American Cancer Society’s second annual “Make Strides Against Break Cancer” walk in New Haven on Sunday, Oct. 19 (full story)

 

Without revealing too much, the Freshman that Coach Fabbri has brought in look very promising right off the bat…only a few weeks until the season opener!

Non-Conference Schedule…WOW

                     

At last Sunday’s banquet honoring the Bobcats season, Coach Tricia Fabbri gave the team and families a quick peek at next year’s schedule of games to start the season, and some big names were dropped for sure. Nothing as far as dates are finalized however, but these SHOULD be matchups. Without further ado, here’s some of the out-of-conference opponents for the 08-09 Women’s Basketball team.

HOME GAMES: Providence, Hartford mentioned

AWAY GAMES: Stony Brook (season opener November 11th), Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend at Vermont…with first round opponent Michigan State (no typo there!)…and last but not least, presumably the week after Christmas, the Bobcats…

WILL PLAY DUKE AT CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on that Bobcats fans?

Story on Women’s Basketball

Here’s the link…