STOP #2: TD Bank Sports Center, Hamden, CT
Saturday, January 12, 2013 - 12pm
Sacred Heart Pioneers (9-5, 1-1) at Quinnipiac Bobcats (11-2, 2-0)
Watch on NEC Front Row
QU Game Notes
SHU Game Notes
PRE-GAME
NOTES
1.
Saturday marks the 60th all-time meeting between Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart,
two Nutmeg State rivals separated by just about 23 miles of the Merritt Parkway.
Sacred Heart leads the all-time series 34-25. The last time these two tangled, last
January 23rd, the Bobcats picked up their first win at the Pitt Center since
2001 with an effort of epic proportions. They defeated Sacred Heart 71-34,
holding the Pioneers to the second fewest points in their school’s Division 1
history. 12 different Bobcats found their way into the scoring column, led by
Felicia Barron’s 26 points. These two teams will meet again at the Pitt Center
on the next to last weekend of the 2013 NEC regular season, on Saturday, February
23rd, with a 1pm tip time
2.
Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart finished as the top two teams in last year’s NEC
standings. Quinnipiac went into the final weekend of the 2012 regular season tied
with Sacred Heart for the top spot in the conference, but holding the
tiebreaker. The Bobcats would finish out the season falling in back to back
games on their home court vs. St. Francis and Robert Morris, while Sacred Heart
would win both games on their home court against the same opponents to claim
the regular season title. Sacred Heart would go on to win their third NEC
Championship in program history, while the Bobcats would settle for the #2 seed
and get ousted in the semi-finals, at home, against Monmouth. The number one
seed once again proved to be historically significant, as the team in the NEC
WBB top spot has won 15 of the 26 NEC Women’s Basketball Championships, and has
reached at least the final round in all but four seasons. With Quinnipiac
returning all but two from last year’s team, the Bobcats were forecasted by the
NEC coaches as the top team in the 2013 pre-season poll, while Sacred Heart earned
respect as the reigning champions, placing one spot right behind at number two.
3. Ironically,
while Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac are two of the most frequent participants in
NEC Women’s Basketball Championships, their paths have rarely crossed.
Quinnipiac has appeared in 12 straight NEC Tournaments and 13 overall. Since
joining D1, the Bobcats have appeared in the NEC playoffs all but one season (2000).
Sacred Heart has appeared in the NEC Tournament 13 straight times, reaching at
least the semis in eight of the previous 13 trips, and has not been seeded
lower than third. During their respective playoff appearance streaks, Quinnipiac
and Sacred Heart’s paths have only crossed once, in the 2006 NEC Championship
Game. Amanda Pape led the Pioneers with a game high 25 points, and completed a
double-double with 14 rebounds, to take home Tournament MVP. The
Pioneers took home their first ever tournament title with a 69-65 victory.
4. While
Quinnipiac has announced that they are moving to the MAAC for the 2013-14
season, the Bobcats women’s basketball team still has one piece of unfinished
business in the NEC. Under Tricia Fabbri, the Bobcats have just about
accomplished it all. They have appeared in 13 of the last 14 NEC Tournaments including
the last 12 straight, they have a 25 win season and a regular season title
under their belt from 2008, they’ve been to the WNIT post-season tournament
twice – in 2008 and 2012, and have had their players recognized for countless individual
awards and honors. Not to mention, their home gym, the TD Bank Sports Center (which
opened in 2007), sits as a first class facility for women’s basketball and just
about all of the Bobcat athletic programs. However, with all of that, the one
thing that has eluded them is the Northeast Conference Championship. With one
last shot left to finally capture the crown, Coach Fabbri brings in perhaps her
most complete team to complete the mission. Returning all but two players from
last year’s roster, the Bobcats have just about all of the pieces to the puzzle
you could ask for: great guard play, solid defense, depth, versatile front
court players, terrific leadership and coaching, and now this year they’ve
added another year worth of knowledge on top of it. The Bobcats have only
finished in the NEC’s top spot once, falling in the 2008 semi-finals to
LIU-Brooklyn (it should be noted that year QU didn’t get home court advantage,
as the entire tournament was held at the neutral site, which just so happened
to be LIU-Brooklyn). The Bobcats have only appeared in the NEC Championship
game once, falling in 2006 to Sacred Heart. If there was ever going to be a
year for them in the NEC, you would think this would be it…in fact with the
move to the MAAC on the horizon, it has to be it – now or never. Quinnipiac has
gotten off to a tremendous start to making that dream a reality come March,
their 11-2 start is their best since starting 15-2 in their regular season
championship winning season of 2008. Their only two defeats so far have come at
the hands of Hartford, 67-61, and Georgia Tech 74-57. Quinnipiac is currently
ranked 15th on the latest College Insider Mid-Major Poll, their
highest ever showing on the list.
5. The
Pioneers and Bobcats are led by the two most successful head coaches in NEC
history. Sacred Heart’s Ed Swanson (the reigning NEC Coach of the Year) has won
a NEC record 259 games, directing the Pioneers toward three NEC Championships. Swanson’s
Pioneer teams have 10 straight winning campaigns, and nine straight seasons of
18 or more victories. Quinnipiac’s Tricia Fabbri is the second winningest NEC
head coach in history. Both Swanson and Fabbri are proud Hall of Famers.
Swanson was inducted in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, while Fabbri
was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. As a player,
Fabbri was a three-time all-MAAC performer at Fairfield, one of two 1,600 point
scorers and 1,000 rebounders in program history. Fabbri, who was a member of
the MAAC 25th anniversary team, with have the opportunity to
terrorize the conference once again when her Bobcats join the league next
season.
6. During
the summer, the Bobcats took their talents overseas for a 10 day tour of Italy.
From August 10-20th Quinnipiac’s women’s basketball team toured
popular destinations such as Rome, Vatican City, Florence, and Venice. The team
visited the Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Sistine
Chapel. As part of tradition, the team threw three pennies into the fountain
and made wishes. No word on whether any of the players or coaches wishes were
to win the NEC in 2013. Oh yeah, in between touring the Bobcats also managed to
squeeze in some exhibition victories into their busy itinerary.
7. Last Saturday,
Sacred Heart was defeated on their home court by a game St. Francis-Brooklyn
team. The Pioneers only received 12 points from the bench and captured a grand
total of two points in the paint. The Pioneers were able to bounce back on
Monday night with a 61-47 win over LIU-Brooklyn. The Blackbirds led 37-34 with
12:17 left before the Pioneers went off on a 17-0 second half run to claim the
win. In a complete bounce back effort, SHU scored 18 points off the bench and
29 points in the paint. Morgan Merriman had one of her best games of the season,
posting a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The effort was a
balanced attack as seven different Pioneers scored points. The Pioneers took exactly
the same number of shots on Monday that they took on Saturday (61), but against
the Blackbirds they made five more field goals then they did in the game prior,
including shooting over 50% in the second half.
8.
Quinnipiac is one of four remaining undefeated teams in conference play after
opening weekend. The Bobcats, Knights, Red Flash, and Colonials all sit at 2-0
in conference. After a road trip to Bryant on Monday night, the Bobcats will
meet the other three unbeatens over the course of the following three games. Overall
the Bobcats will play five of their next seven games on the road, while the
Pioneers will start a stretch of playing seven of their next nine away from
home.
9. Erika
Norman and Felicia Barron are two of the top theft artists in the NEC. Norman, a
junior guard for Sacred Heart and last year’s NEC Tournament MVP, currently
leads the conference with 55 steals – an average of 3.93 per game. Barron, who took
home NEC Defensive Player of the Year honors last by setting a single season
Bobcat steal record with 133, currently has 48 thefts, good for second most in
the league.
10. Monday
night, the Bobcats defeated St. Francis-Brooklyn at the TD Bank Sports Center
73-52. QU led by four points with 3:40 remaining in the first half, and then
went on a 26-2 run, carrying over through the first six minutes of the second
half. At one point the Terriers were forced into missing 15 straight field
goals, while Jasmine Martin tallied 11 straight points, including three
straight threes. Martin led the Bobcats on the night with 18 points, her eighth
straight game in double figures scoring.
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