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Quinnipiac Women’s Basketball Ousts Miami In NCAA Tournament

March Madness officially kicked off with the start of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament this past weekend. On Saturday, No. 9 Quinnipiac faced off against the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes in the Round of 64 in the tournament. Hosted at the Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT, the anticipation for the match-up was huge.

The game was slow to start, with both teams playing somewhat lethargic. By the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats trailed the Canes by a score of 14-17. Edel Thornton contributed 7 of those points, and finished the game with 14 on 6-15 shooting.

Emese Hof of the Canes helped pick up the pace in the second quarter, posting 10 points within the first twenty minutes of the game. She was met by a series of buckets from Quinnipiac’s Jen Fay, who had 8 by the half. Both teams scored 18 points in the second, leading to a halftime score of 35-32 in Miami’s favor.

As the third quarter began, the Bobcats seeked to pick up the pace. They shot just 25% from beyond the arc while hitting only half of their free throws in the first half. In the third, Quinnipiac outscored Miami 21-19. Miami still battled, though. Erykah Davenport helped combat the Cats, finishing with a game-high 20 points on an astonishing 8-10 shooting from the field. Davenport also pulled down 9 rebounds.

By the time the fourth quarter had come around, Quinnipiac was trailing 60-59. Fay led the charge once again, finishing with a team-high 19 points while helping propel an 8-0 run for the Bobcats. Thornton scored 5 during the run, and was one of Quinnipiac’s six players with double figure scoring. With a 67-60 lead, this is where they broke the game open. Miami’s Endia Banks finished with a double-double, dropping 15 points along with 10 boards.

The Cats went on to outscore the Canes 33 to 18 in the final quarter, and went on to win the game by a score of 86-72. Their huge fourth quarter was led by Aryn McClure, who finished the contest just shy of a triple-double. McClure finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. Miami finishes their season with a 21-11 record, having been knocked out of the tournament by the Bobcats for the second straight season.

Quinnipiac has now won 23 straight games, and currently holds a 28-5 record. Moving on to the Round of 32, they will play the historically good (and also undefeated) University of Connecticut. The Bobcats will seek a huge upset and a repeat return to the Sweet 16 when they play the Huskies on March 19 at 6:30 PM.

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