By: Connor Coar and Brandon Murdock
Anna Foley, Jackie Grisdale and Gal Raviv dragged their feet and stepped up onto the postgame press conference podium with their heads down following their loss to the Fairfield Stags in the MAAC championship game just five days ago.
It was clear that before facing the media, the players had shed tears together in the locker room. You could see the red around the three players’ eyes. You could hear their sniffles as head coach Tricia Fabbri gave her opening statement and you could feel that the team knew they were 40 minutes away from the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season. But they could not withstand the pure dominance from Fairfield.
Over the next 28 hours, more questions loomed for Quinnipiac women’s basketball. At that point, the Bobcats were 28-4. That was good for 15th-best in the country. Fairfield had claimed the conference’s automatic bid, but Quinnipiac’s fate still hung in the balance. The Bobcats had beaten three teams during the regular season that ended up being at-large and automatic qualifiers following the selection show Sunday night. Their chance for an at-large bid was low, but not zero.
Despite many media outlets, and even Fairfield’s head coach Carly Thiboult-Dudonis, trying to advocate for Quinnipiac with the NCAA Selection Committee to allow the Bobcats to get an at-large bid, ESPN’s Elle Duncan never uttered the words, “The Quinnipiac Bobcats,” during Sunday night’s selection show.
Quinnipiac’s season would be extended, however. Not in the NCAA Tournament, but in the WBIT. The Bobcats will be playing the Seton Hall Pirates Thursday night at 7 p.m. in South Orange, New Jersey in the opening round of the tournament.
How Quinnipiac got here
The Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the No. 10 Iona Gaels in the MAAC quarter-final round in convincing fashion, 79-51. The Bobcats followed up two days later by beating the No. 6 Merrimack Warriors in the semi-final round 65-51. The team then ran into the buzzsaw that was the No. 1 Fairfield Stags, who were able to beat the Bobcats 76-53 in the MAAC championship game. The Stags had made 15 three-pointers during the championship game, tied for the most made three-point field goals in one game of the entire season for Fairfield.
“We have to give Fairfield a ton of credit,” senior captain Jackie Grisdale said postgame. “They played a great game and we couldn’t keep up.”
Sydni Scott scored all of her 18 points from behind the arc, not missing one of her six attempts from deep.
“Once I saw the first one go in, I knew it was going to be a good day,” Scott said after the game.
What is The WBIT?
The WBIT is the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and it is offered to teams that did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. In 2024, the tournament was created to replicate the men’s version of the National Invitational Tournament. It is a 32-team postseason tournament and is sponsored by the NCAA, unlike the WNIT. The Bobcats will look to become the second ever winner of this tournament after Illinois who won the inaugural tournament last year and who now will be playing in the NCAA tournament.
There are certainly advantages to playing in the tournament as it gives younger players experience playing in a competitive tournament as well as increased exposure for players to give coaches or professional scouts another chance to take a look. There can be some downside however as the travel and schedule strain can be massive as if the Bobcats are to win, they will have to travel to the west coast immediately after the game to play Stanford or Portland. There can also be added injury risk playing in these games.
This season, Quinnipiac is one of four teams in the tournament that has five or less losses in the entire season.
How does Quinnipiac match up against Seton Hall?
Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella and the Pirates finished third in the Big East conference, behind Connecticut and Creighton. The two schools are a 2-seed and a 9-seed, respectfully, in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
“While we are all disappointed that the third-place team in the fifth hardest country did not get selected for the NCAA Tournament,” Bozzella said on social media. “We are very excited to once again represent Seton Hall in the postseason.”
Both Bozzella and Fabbri believed that they should have been a part of the NCAA Tournament this season. While Fabbri did not take the same approach as Bozzella, Quinnipiac’s head coach has made it clear in the past that the conference they play in deserves more respect than it receives.
The MAAC will have to wait another year for the women’s basketball side to get two bids for the first time since 2001, Quinnipiac still has a game to play.
| Quinnipiac (28-4, 18-2 MAAC) | Seton Hall (22-9, 13-5 Big East) | |
| 68.4 | PPG | 62.7 |
| 73.9% | FT % | 77.9% |
| 44.2% | FG % | 38.6% |
| 34.8% | 3PT % | 27.4% |
| 32.7/G | REB/G | 33.3/G |
| 12/G | TO/G | 14.2/G |
The Bobcats and the Pirates are very similar on paper, but the biggest battle will be the point guard play for either side.
The two schools will meet for the third time ever. Seton Hall won the previous two matchups by a total of 10 points, the two first matchup since 2007.
Quinnipiac’s Gal Raviv was awarded the MAAC Rookie and Player of the Year award this season. It is the first time that the conference gave the player of the year honors to a freshman in its 43-year history.
The 5-foot-7 guard leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per contest and forces all of her opponents to bring reinforcements her way when she has the ball in her hands. If the other team brings a second defender, she has the intelligence to find the open player and have the Bobcats play on the advantage. She also leads the team in assists.
On the other side, another 5-foot–7 freshman guard has been playing lights out for the Pirates.
Jada Eads is from Orlando, Florida and has the chops to be a part of “the best backcourt around,” Bozzella said during the season.
Averaging 13.8 points per game, Eads does a lot of the same things that her Quinnipiac counterpart does. She has a crafty handle, commands attention when she is on offense and limits turnovers to keep her team in the game.
It is a long road for the chance to compete for another championship, and while one team’s season will end Thursday night, the other will move on to the west coast for the second round of the tournament. The winner will face the winner of Stanford vs. Portland, though dates and times are still TBD.
“…It’s another opportunity for us to get postseason experience,” Fabbri said to WTNH News 8 Wednesday. “That will pay itself forward as we get ready for next year.”
