MAAC Women’s Basketball Semifinals Recap

No. 1 Quinnipiac and No. 4 Marist will meet in the championship game for the fourth time in the last six seasons on March 11. The Bobcats hold a 2-1 advantage in those games and are in search of their third straight MAAC title.

No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats vs. No. 4 Monmouth Hawks

The Bobcats clicked on all cylinders Sunday as they blew out Monmouth 80-42 in the first semifinal game to advance to their third straight MAAC Championship game where they’ll face No. 3 Marist on March 11. They held a dominating 41-17 advantage over Monmouth at halftime and didn’t look back. They limited the Hawks to score 10 points over the second and third quarters. Brittany Martin led the Bobcats with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting. She also went 6-for-9 from the charity stripe. Sixth Player of the Year, Taylor Herd contributed 14 points and shot 50 percent from the field. Quinnipiac dominated Monmouth in the paint doubling their total, 40-20. For the Hawks, Sierra Green led the way with 11 points, had three steals and three rebounds in 24 minutes.

No. 2 Rider Broncs vs. No. 3 Marist Red Foxes

Marist was without the services of Alana Gilmer Sunday afternoon as the Red Foxes held on to defeat Rider 62-52. The Red Foxes relied on Rebekah Hand and Grace Vander Weide to power the offense. Both players finished with 14 points. Hand finished one rebound shy of a double-double. Willow Duffell contributed 11 of the team’s 47 total rebounds. Marist’s defense let up a bit in the fourth quarter as 2018-19 MAAC Player of the Year Stella Johnson helped Rider erase a 15-point Marist lead. Johnson scored eight of her 24 points in the final quarter. The Broncs never led in the game. Rider is one of the better teams in the MAAC when it comes to converting points off turnovers but were outscored in that area 13-9 Sunday afternoon. Amari Johnson was held scoreless for the first time in her first year as a Bronc but snagged nine rebounds. Marist advances to the championship game on March 11 for the second time in as many seasons where it’ll face a familiar opponent in Quinnipiac who defeated the Red Foxes in last year’s title game. Tipoff is set for 2:30 pm on ESPNU.