February 28, 2010

Women's Basketball Clinches NEC Tournament Berth With Road Win At FDU

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Courtney Kaminski (Dudley, Mass.) compiled a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Quinnipiac University women's basketball team to a 68-51 road victory at Fairleigh Dickinson and punch the Bobcats' ticket to the 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament. The victory puts the Bobcats at 12-17 overall (7-11 NEC), and pushed Quinnipiac into the No. 7 seed in the tournament. The Bobcats will face second-seeded Long Island in Loretto, Pa., next Saturday evening at 5:30.

Alyssa Jann (Westford, Mass.) added 14 points, while Kathleen Neyens (Jaffrey, N.H.) had 12 points and nine rebounds. Lailah Pratt (Palmyra, N.J.) also had a strong game, contributing nine points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Quinnipiac dominated the glass, outrebounding the Knights, 56-32, including 21 offensive rebounds.

Jasmyra Saunders led FDU with 18 points, while Mariyah Laury added 17 for the Knights.

"It's good to be in a position to control your own fate and we did that today," said Quinnipiac Head Coach Tricia Fabbri. "(Lailah Pratt) was an absolute beast today in the most complimentary way."

Neyens and Jann paced the Bobcats with eight points apiece in the first half, while Saunders countered with eight of her own for the Knights. After trailing by five early on, the Bobcats built a 10-point lead with just under four minutes left in the half, and maintained an eight-point edge at the half. Pratt's layup at the 11:55 mark of the first half gave the Bobcats the lead for good.

Quinnipiac extended its lead to as many as 18 points in the final minute of the second half on a Kaminski lay-up and the Knights never got closer than to within six points early in the stanza.

For the game, the Bobcats outshot the Knights, 39.7 percent (23-58) to 30.2 percent (19-63) from the floor and 41.2 percent (7-17) to 23.8 percent (5-21) from long range. FDU took a 66.7 percent (8-12) to 51.7 percent (15-29) edge from the free-throw line.