Quinnipiac senior forward Grace LaBarge felt the end in silence. The Bobcats had just lost to Seton Hall 57-40, and were sitting in the visiting locker room of Walsh Gymnasium. LaBarge had just taken off her shoes, which were a hybrid of pink, purple and blue.
It was only players in the locker room at this point, no one was speaking, though. Some had their heads down, others were crying. It wasn’t until a minute or two in that sophomore forward Anna Foley said something, then LaBarge spoke.
She thanked them for her senior year and how proud she was of all of them. With her shoes off, and her uniform eventually coming off, LaBarge had a realization.
“Wow, I’m not going to put these back on,” LaBarge said. “I’m never going to be suited up for a game again.”
Former Bobcat guard Jillian Casey has been on that road before. Her basketball career ended in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the year before at the MAAC Tournament. Casey is now a physical therapy student at the University of Rhode Island pursuing her doctorate.
She texted LaBarge right after the game ended, “How are you feeling?”
“[LaBarge] said, ‘definitely weird, and I’m not really sure what to think of it,’” Casey said.
The morning after, LaBarge was in a haze. It was 10 times worse after sleeping. She texted a group chat she has with sophomore guards Maria Kealy, Ava Sollenne, Paige Girardi and Foley.
“It feels like we’re still in a nightmare,” LaBarge said. “This is reality.”
This was the second sit-down blow of the end for LaBarge. Quinnipiac was clobbered 76-53 in the MAAC Championship game by Fairfield, so that and the permanent end created a “double whammy,” for LaBarge.
A month later with fresher eyes and now a “NARP”, (a non-athletic regular person), LaBarge sees the end of her basketball, hell, her college life as simply the end of chapters. College is a four-year chapter, sure, but basketball has been a 17-year chapter for LaBarge. It’s been a chapter filled with joy, camaraderie, injury, anxiety and, above all, love.
Where it all started
LaBarge first started playing like most kids with her siblings at around five years old. She’s the baby of the family. She has three older siblings, a brother, Michael, and two sisters, Emily and Hannah.
That’s how her love of the game developed.
“I would go to all of their games, and I loved watching them play,” LaBarge said.
From there, her next memory concerns something LaBarge has become all too accustomed with: three pointers on the wing. LaBarge attempted the fourth most three pointers on Quinnipiac this past season.
She was in fourth grade, playing up against fifth graders and she put up a prayer.
“I shot the shot, and I immediately started running back on defense,” LaBarge said.
It went in. From there, a love of the three-ball started with LaBarge. Of her 601 career points with Quinnipiac, 213 are triples.
Pretty early on — in late elementary school/early middle school — LaBarge knew that she wanted to play collegiate basketball. She played up for most of her life, in preparation for playing for William Fremd High School.
When she got there, LaBarge instantly made an impact. She was on the varsity team as a freshman, although the varsity team was like LaBarge at the high school level, inexperienced.
“We were really young,” then-assistant coach and interim head coach of Fremd James Han said. “We actually didn’t have a great season, per se, because we were so young.”
Dave Yates was the head coach of Fremd when LaBarge went there. He had to step down in 2024 because of a brain cancer diagnosis. He was the Fremd girls basketball head coach for 18 years and died on June 11, 2024.
He was instrumental in LaBarge’s growth. LaBarge struggled with self-confidence her sophomore year. She would get on the court and think that she couldn’t do it and she would mess up. She was locked in her head.
“There was a time where I was like, I can’t do it anymore. I don’t want to play basketball anymore. I’m ready to give up,” LaBarge said.
It was Yates who convinced her not to. Through being there for LaBarge, he put her on the path she’s on now.
“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have ever made it to Quinnipiac,” LaBarge said.
In LaBarge’s junior year, Fremd went on to win the state championship, its first in program history. It beat Lincoln-Way West 58-47 to take home the trophy.
But trophies weren’t of the team’s concern.
“None of us wanted to be done,” Emily Klaczek, the then-point guard on Fremd said.
“One of our mantras Grace’s junior year was ‘keep winning so we could spend more time together as a group,’” Han said.
It was Dave Yates first ever state championship. Yates’ family held a celebration of life in the Fremd library, where the whole state championship team came to show their support. Both LaBarge and Klaczek flew back for the occasion.
“I’m so glad I made the trip home for it,” LaBarge said. “It really encapsulated the type of person he was, that he was having so many people come around for him.”
The Quinnipiac experience
LaBarge celebrates with teammates sophomore guard Karson Martin (center) and freshman guard Gal Raviv during the Bobcats MAAC Tournament win over Merrimack. (Rob Rasumssen | P8 Photos)
LaBarge committed to Quinnipiac over the pandemic. One of her AAU coaches put her on a phone call with Quinnipiac, which was news to LaBarge, both the phone call and the school she would shortly be talking to.
“I have never even heard of Quinnipiac,” LaBarge said. “What is that?”
LaBarge knew right when speaking to Quinnipiac head coach Tricia Fabbri that it would work out. She talked with former players Rose Caverly and Cat Almeida, took a visit and committed shortly after that.
She moved in over the summer for the two summer practice sessions with four other freshmen — senior guard Jackie Grisdale, Rose Caso, Reiven Douglas and Korin Mereste.
Talk to anyone about LaBarge, and they’ll mention how funny she is.
“She was certainly a goofball,” Han said. “She’s always been silly.”
She instantly left that impact upon her fellow freshman, regardless of what they were doing.
“We would sit in the common area and play board games,” Douglas said. “She would be one of the ones making jokes about the games.”
Her humor left a lasting impression on Casey too. The team was shooting around, some were shooting others were rebounding. LaBarge walked up to Casey and left her with seven words.
“Born to yap. Forced to play basketball.”
Her and Casey became close, over humor, yes, but also over common struggles. Throughout LaBarge’s four years as a Bobcat, she dealt with uncertainty about her playing time, having to miss family events, multiple sprained ankles — including one that sidelined her for a little over two weeks this season.
Casey has been through all of that. She had a concussion her junior year and then broke her pinky her senior year. But she had Grace to lean on throughout it all.
“I can honestly say that I’m not sure that I would have gone through my last two years without being friends with her,” Casey said.
For LaBarge, former director of basketball operations Jasmyne Fogle and senior associate athletic trainer Becky Mella are who helped her get through the four years in Hamden. In the first summer session, Mella gave all of the new freshman hugs.
“Even from day one, I already knew that I was going to be very close to her,” LaBarge said. “As the years went on, I would find myself turning to Becky if I needed help.”
There’s disagreement among those closest to Grace about what their favorite Quinnipiac basketball memory was of her. Her parents, Ann and Jim, recall the 20-point performance against Princeton on Dec. 6, 2023. LaBarge went 6-6 from the field, and 3-3 from beyond the arc.
Brody Limric, a former Quinnipiac player and Grace’s boyfriend, however, likes to think about her layup against Fairfield from this past season.
— Quinnipiac Women's Basketball (@QU_WBB) March 8, 2025
LaBarge got the ball on the right wing, she drove to her left side, got banged in the paint and while falling to her left toward the M&T Bank Arena stands, lofts a left-handed shot off the glass into the bucket. It sealed a regular-season finale win over Fairfield.
At that moment, it felt like Quinnipiac could win the MAAC, and Grace’s last memory would be hoisting a trophy. But only if we could live in “what ifs,” life would be so much different.
The future
No one truly knows what the future holds for them. For LaBarge, though, the next steps may lay in a cat she adopted over the summer. Meet Oliver, he’s a little over a year old with light brown fur and black stripes all over his body. He’s also missing his left eye. He loves to go on walks outside, he begs LaBarge every day to make it happen. LaBarge loves doing it.
However, some of the students on Quinnipiac’s York Hill campus think otherwise.
“I’ve been walking outside with him and people will yell out their windows at me, and they’ll say ‘that’s not a fucking dog,’” LaBarge said. “I vividly remember some guy yelling that, and I wish I knew where he lived, because I’d be like ‘are you serious?’”
LaBarge worked at the Mount Carmel Veterinary Hospital on Whitney Avenue. She only worked a little during the school year, due to basketball and classes, but a lot more in the summer.
LaBarge came in one day, and saw Oliver on the recovery table, post surgery from removing his left eye. He was mangled — the vets believe he was hit by a car — which caused his left eye to bulge out of his skull.
He needed help with recovering, and it was in part LaBarge’s job to do that. It was a challenge for Oliver to recover.
“It got to the point that I was like, I feel so bad leaving him here overnight in a cold crate, so I asked the vet if I could take him home just nights with me,” LaBarge said.
The answer was yes, and LaBarge grew attached with each night.
“He wanted to be with me the whole, entire time,” LaBarge said with a wide smile. “He was also just so cute and had one eye, how could you resist him?”
LaBarge holding Oliver in her dorm at Quinnipiac University. (Courtesy of Brody Limric)
Oliver eventually went up for adoption, and it was LaBarge who adopted him.
“She loves that animal,” Limric said. “She does a lot for it.”
Oliver is a representation of LaBarge’s love of animals, which inspired her to become a veterinarian. She’s always had that love, dating back to the ditch at the end of her driveway in Inverness.
“That [love] probably started sooner than basketball for me,” LaBarge said. “This is so gross, I have so many memories playing in our little ditch at the end of our driveway, because there would be so many frogs there.”
“I loved hanging out with the frogs, I would spend hours outside with them.”
She’s waiting to hear back from two veterinarian schools, the University of Illinois and Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. She had a job interview on May 2 to work at a vet back home. The summer plan is to go back home and work there, then spend the year with Limric — who is currently in the transfer portal — wherever he ends up, if LaBarge doesn’t get into vet school.
LaBarge isn’t going to walk the stage at graduation. Her collegiate end won’t be in a cap and gown. It will be among family and friends back in Illinois. That won’t be in silence either, but once in solitude, LaBarge is filled with nothing but gratitude about her journey.
“If I was there, I would just be grateful for all of the good experiences that I had, and the bad,” LaBarge said.
Hamden, CT – Tricia Fabbri was hired as Quinnipiac College’s first full-time women’s basketball coach in 1995.
She did not have an arena to call home like she does now. Her resources — as a Division II school in the mid-1990s — were limited. She didn’t even have an office to herself.
Coming from Fairfield University, Fabbri had a stellar playing career. Known then by her maiden name, Tricia Sacca, she finished her career with 1,622 points, 1,036 rebounds and three First-Team All-Conference selections. Fabbri knew what winning looked, felt and sounded like early in her life.
Fabbri wasn’t coaching when she got a call from her former coach at Fairfield, Dianne Nolan, asking her to join her coaching staff as an assistant after graduating.
Fabbri was working as a cocktail waitress in Atlantic City when Nolan called her back to Connecticut.
As an assistant for four seasons, Fabbri helped the Stags to a record of 64-51. Once Quinnipiac had an opening for its head women’s basketball coaching position, then athletic director Burt Kahn reached out to Fabbri about moving to Quinnipiac.
This article is a profile of Fabbri’s 30 years in Hamden (on and off the court) told by her peers, players, assistant coaches, family and all those who became family along the way.
Early Days
Nolan: “It also made a lot of sense. They were just getting their program off the ground. [Fairfield] at the time had done a similar thing. We went from Division II to Division I. We had made the NCAA Tournament a few times. I think the administration at Quinnipiac looked at Fairfield and said, ‘Wow. We want to kind of do what they did,’ and she is all part of that. Let’s hire someone who’s been through it and has had success with it.”
John Lahey, Quinnipiac President 1987-2018: “She was very young … And I’ll have to give Burt Kahn credit … He recognized the quality and potential there to hire [a] younger coach.”
Billy Mecca, Quinnipiac MBB Coach 1991-96/Senior Associate Athletic Director 1998-Present: “She was full of energy and a bundle of joy. And really anxious in a good way, about the opportunity that Quinnipiac provided for her.”
Lahey: “You hire young leaders and you hope they’ll turn out to be great, but you never know for sure. So, whatever Trish has, I wish I could clone it. I wish I could have every coach that we hired turn into a Trish Sacca. You know, she’s very impressive. She’s a big woman. I mean, she’s a presence. I can only imagine her boxing somebody out. I see why she had the rebounding records.”
Fabbri had the potential to be a great coach, and 30 years later many can attest she’s achieved that status. It wasn’t always that way, though.
After a 33-98 record in her first five seasons in Hamden, frustration weighed heavily on Fabbri. Her story at Quinnipiac almost ended before it really even started.
Nolan: “I don’t think she ever shared this story that she was ready to resign. Her first few years were not successful and nor were mine at Fairfield … She hates to lose and the losing killed her.”
Mecca: “She just wanted to walk away because she was so competitive, and winning was such a part of the institution of the Sacca name, that her not winning (was) what she would call failing … But her ability to get past that and use it as a springboard, to me it’s a remarkable story of perseverance.”
Nolan: “When you lose as a coach, self doubt creeps in. No matter what anybody says, you are what your baseball card reads. So it was hard, but we knew she had it. The school was on the right path. It was just going to take time.”
Who is Coach Fabbri?
Whether it’s from playing for her or working alongside her, there are many ways to describe Fabbri on the court and around the game of basketball. Her success at QU came once she started to find her footing in recruiting.
Mecca: “Her ability to get kids committed versus her grabbing kids just to be involved, that’s when you saw the transition from being an average basketball team to the powerhouse she created.”
Nolan: “Winning breeds winning. When you win a championship, you can go get a higher level recruit and it kind of snowballs.”
Greg Amodio, Quinnipiac Athletic Director 2015-Present: “She finds kids that fit into her program and will work with her mindset. And then there’s a level of expectation that is within the entire program that we’re not just here to be mediocre, we’re here to try to compete for championships.”
Nolan: “When you win your first conference championship, it’s hard to do … Once you win one, it’s very addicting. Us coaches all have addictive personalities. Thank God we coach. We don’t gamble.”
Amodio: “With success comes other eyes on your program and on your coach … Am I going to get a phone call? Is Trish going to get a phone call? And there were phone calls. Those coaches who get phone calls from other schools about an opportunity to move up just means that they’ve been doing a really good job where you are … [With] Dr. Lahey, who was here at the time, we were incredibly proactive in rewarding Tricia for her success and showing her that she was important to us.”
Fabbri’s precision and honesty keeps her atop the game and helps her earn respect from her players and staff.
Gillian “Boo” Abshire, Quinnipiac Guard 2011-15: “She’s all about the details and going the extra mile, and I really think that’s what makes her so great is just paying attention to those details – showing love and passion every single day, and she’s really just the best human out there.”
Lisa Lebak, Quinnipiac Guard 2009-13: “She’s willing to call you out for your mess ups, but she’s willing to do the same for herself, and have ownership in what she may have or could have done better or differently.”
Pat Kraemer, Quinnipiac SID 2023-Present: “She doesn’t even tell [the players] how to fix [anything]. She just expects them to know how to fix it and how to change their attitude, their effort, whatever it is. She’ll just say out loud ‘I don’t like our effort.’ She’ll just be brutally honest with them. She doesn’t tell them how to fix anything. They just already know.”
Mackenzie DeWees, Quinnipiac Guard 2018-23: “It can sound harsh sometimes, but Coach is just preparing you for life. There’s obstacles that we face. There’s mistakes that we make and you have to pick back up and readjust and keep going.”
Amodio: “I think the thing I love about her is there’s no nonsense. There’s not a lot of drama with her program and with her, she holds her student athletes accountable.”
Jasmine Martin, Quinnipiac Guard 2011-15: “She loves her players, she loves coaching, she loves what she does, and she shows up for us 110% every day. In all my years playing, I never felt like ‘Man, she doesn’t want to be here’, or ‘It’s just too much for her.’”
Abshire: “And obviously being a Division I athlete is really tough, but you have this female coach who’s been in my shoes before. So it’s just like, why wouldn’t I listen to every single word that she says?”
Lori Landino, Men’s & Women’s Basketball Administrative Assistant 2007-Present: “Her success is different, but it’s also what she does every day to come to the table – to how she’s prepared, how she prepares along the way and all the little details how she handles her business to get to the final point.”
Mountain MacGillivray, Quinnipiac Assistant 2009-18: “Coach is utterly unflappable and just ready to go. When we were playing a game where we were supposed to win, she was always a nervous wreck. Because she never liked being in a situation where we had a big lead, so … It allowed me and the assistants to be assistants, and kind of took her off the ledge when we had already done our job and put a team away, we could try to get her to calm down.”
Jen Fay, Quinnipiac Forward 2014-19: “I would say she’s demanding, but in the best way possible.”
DeWees: “When I was a freshman and we had been losing at halftime to Harvard, I remember she came into the locker room and it was like [this] fire in her eyes. I felt like she had fire in her eyes and fire in her hair, and instead of being shocked, everybody just honed in … Some people misinterpret it for being angry, how her demeanor and stuff are being angry or mad. It’s not, she’s just a passionate, caring woman that wants to win games and wants to play basketball.”
Lebak: “She told you what she needed from you, and there were no secrets or confusion whatsoever. I think direct is probably the best thing you can be as a coach, and she absolutely was, which was super helpful.”
Carly Fabbri, Daughter/Quinnipiac Guard 2014-18: “I think that’s why she’s made such a niche for her in this career. I just think that kind of trickles down throughout her players and her best players are normally the ones that are really tough-nosed, really competitive, will outwork you, and I think that’s her coaching style as well.”
An example of this tough-nosed nature comes from Jen Fay needing a “gentle” reminder on the bench during a game.
Fay: “We’re at Marist and I think it’s my senior year. I’m absolutely playing terribly. She pulls me out, she turns to me and goes, ‘Are you ready to get your head out of your ass now? You ready to go play?’ In that moment I was like, ‘I love you.’ It was like ‘Yeah, you’re right. You’re exactly right.’”
Fabbri is transparent with who she is from the minute players she is recruiting step onto Quinnipiac’s campus.
Martin: “A lot of times you get recruited, it ends up being the people who recruited you aren’t the people who actually are coaching you. It’s a facade. I didn’t know what I was getting into. But with Coach, my dad always said, ‘Go where you’re loved, not where you’re liked,’ and Coach showed that she loved me.”
Jacinda Dunbar, Quinnipiac Forward 2008-2012: “I’d never even heard of the school Quinnipiac until I was being recruited … But the one thing I can remember about her that made me comfortable was just more or less just the warmth that she just has, whether she knows you for a long time, whether you’re brand new, it’s always consistent and it’s always inviting.”
Fay: “I remember driving up this huge hill. I’m like, where am I going? I was an hour and a half away. Her and Mountain both recruited me heavily out of New York City. And I remember on my visit, just kind of getting out of the car. As soon as I got out of the car, the energy and the passion were just right there.”
Kraemer: “That’s a big way that Trish sells this place, is just being comfortable from the minute you step foot on campus.”
AJ Fabbri, Son: “I think my mom is really a salt of the earth woman. I think that’s why a lot of young women want to come play for her, because she can relate to a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life.”
Fay: “My gratitude for her now is 10 times what it was as a player. I had no idea the behind-the-scenes stuff that you have to go through as a head coach and the decisions you have to make, trying to keep everybody happy. It’s incredible how much she can juggle.”
Her ability to recruit highly competitive players got the team its first NCAA Tournament win in 2017. Fabbri’s message to the team before the game still stays with her players to this day.
Carly Fabbri: “We were super dialed in … Fired up just to be in Miami, to be in the tournament. Sometimes you can get a little bit wrapped up, but I thought her and the rest of the coaching staff did such a great job of grounding us and making sure that we were so well prepared. She ended [practice] with ‘And when we win tomorrow, be ready, don’t act like you’ve never been there before, even though you really haven’t, but act like you deserve this and you’ve been prepared.’”
Every year, only a small number of teams end their season with a win, and everyone else has to end their season with a loss. Fabbri has had to address her teams in painful moments, including ones like the end of a season.
Amodio: “In the face of defeat, she still has an even keel about her. She’s as pissed off as anybody, but she can compartmentalize that and still bring it around to a positive message.”
Kraemer: “Probably one of the biggest losses we had this year was in the MAAC Championship. She didn’t even talk about the game afterwards. She said, ‘I don’t care about the game. We had a great season.’”
DeWees: “Once you’re in her group, she loves you like you’re one of her kids.”
Landino: “She stands the test of time.”
Who is Tricia Fabbri The Person?
Fabbri has 544 wins on her resume. It’s easy to talk about her as a coach and the success she has had, but it’s who she is off the court that has stayed with people the most.
Mecca: “Her personality has never changed. Her personality had the ability to open doors back then, but over time, the character that she developed kept every door open.”
Abshire: “One of my favorite things about her is she’s not afraid to show her emotions. I have countless memories of her getting choked up in a locker room because of how much she cares.”
Landino: “She wears her heart on her sleeve. Her vulnerability and her emotion, it’s so true.”
MacGillivray: “She also was not afraid to let the players see how much she cared. She wouldn’t hesitate to cry, she wouldn’t hesitate to show her emotions if the frustration got to a point where she was pouring herself out, and she didn’t feel like the team was… She wasn’t afraid to show it, and I think that vulnerability draws the players to be connected to their coach, and I think honestly to this day I still wish I had a little bit more of that.”
Fay: “Her ability to know what kind of message and tone needs to be said to the team at what point during the game and her ability to push the assistant (coaches) and really be emotional, but then know that, ‘okay, the kids need confidence right now.’”
Abshire: “I remember when I did my first scout. It’s kind of like a big project you do. You work on it for a lot of hours and then deliver it to the team. I texted her that morning and just told her that I was nervous. And she was like, ‘You know what, Boo? Why don’t you just share with your team that you’re nervous? Like, it’s okay to be vulnerable.’”
Fay: “It allows her to be demanding on the court because you know how much she cares about you off the court. But the way that Coach treats (people) from the custodian who’s vacuuming the locker room, to her best player to her assistant coaches, it doesn’t change.”
Becky Mella, Senior Associate Athletic Trainer 2011-Present: Even when there’s tons of injuries, that can be stressful, because it takes away their plan, right? Takes away their power a little bit, not on purpose, but, she’s just always so good. She’ll get stressed at times, but she’ll always come back and thank me. She always says the nicest things to basically appreciate us as a staff and what we do. We’re all on the same page, so that’s all you need really.
Fabbri even embraces her players and staff by opening up her home to them.
Fay: “She would have the team over all the time. Even those players like us, who couldn’t go home, ‘Come over for a meal, come over and do this and that.’”
Martin: “I was in Boston maybe, like I don’t know, 4 or 5 months ago I needed a place to stay on my way home, and she let (me stay). Her door is always open.”
MacGillivray: “She’s just a really enjoyable person to be around, she knows how to have fun, and she sure knows how to host a party like nobody’s business.”
And while she is a fierce competitor on the court, she has a fun, goofy side that she’s not afraid to show too.
Lebak: “I think one of my favorite things about Coach Fabbri is every now and then she would come in and we would finish practice, and we’d be in a circle, and she’d just start dancing. Like, where is this coming from?”
Nolan: “(My husband) had this one saying about her. ‘Sacca does everything large.’ She had big hair, she had a big car. That’s what made her fun. She did everything with great enthusiasm and great competitiveness.”
Paul Henry Fabbri, Son: “There’s a reason why girls come back with their kids and their families for the alumni weekend. Come see Coach Fabbri, and that’s most rewarding, being able to talk to all of them, whether it’s from 1999 or 2014. Girls are coming back.”
What Was Your First Impression of Fabbri?
Cass Turner, Women’s Ice Hockey Head Coach (2015-Present): “I think every interaction I ever had with Coach Fabbri has been an energetic one. I feel like I can remember first meeting her and just instantly knowing (she) was somebody who was successful, and that I (could) turn to when I needed to and (someone) to look up to as a great mentor in coaching.”
Tyrell Walden-Martin, Sports Information Director 2021-2023: “My first interaction with her was when they won the championship my freshman year. The entire crowd rushed the floor and everybody stormed the court … And as I was celebrating on the court I just bumped into Trish. But I saw Trish and I was just like, ‘Congratulations, Coach’ and she just gave me a hug. At the time I’m just a random student so I’m just like, holy crap. I just hugged the women’s basketball head coach (who) just won a championship on our floor.”
Tyler Brosious, Women’s Basketball Graduate Assistant (2017-18): “Everyone was always like, ‘You’re from South Jersey. Trish is from South Jersey. You guys have to go talk to each other.’ We found out that she is from the exact town where my dad was living at the time. Where she grew up and where I grew up was like a 10 minute drive. We were truly cut from the same cloth. There was an instant connection there that blossomed in the four or five years that we worked together.”
Abshire: “The morning of my (recruiting) visit, I remember (there was) something that paralleled to my mom. She walked up and introduced herself to me and she had her Starbucks cup, and it had red lipstick all over the part where you drink, and that’s the same thing as my mom. So that was a big reason why — I know it’s something so small and corny – but I was like, ‘I think I’m going to come here.’”
MacGillivray: “I went to main campus first, walked down to the center of the quad, didn’t know where the arena or the gym was. [I] looked back, saw Sleeping Giant over the dome of the business school and was like, ‘Yeah, I could get used to this.’ I was like ‘Man, I think I could talk anyone into coming here.’ So that was certainly a big sell.”
Brijesh Patel, Associate Athletic Director/Director of Athletic Performance (2008-Present): “Quinnipiac didn’t really have a strength coach before me … But right from the get go, I explained ‘Here’s the philosophy, here’s how we’re gonna do things.’ And she was like, ‘I’m all in. Let’s go.’ So it was fantastic to have that level of support initially, when you’re working with somebody for the first time.”
Mom Fabbri
When asked to describe Fabbri, “motherly” was used by almost every person, whether they played for her or worked with her. Her own children grew up at Quinnipiac as part of the team, accepting their “extra siblings” with open arms.
Fabbri’s oldest son, AJ, has one of his earliest memories at a Quinnipiac game.
AJ Fabbri: “When my mom was first starting out coaching, apparently (the other team) was on a fast break. I got loose from whoever was watching me and ran out onto the court and the game had to get stopped. They got delayed, the refs blew a whistle, all that. I saw my mom and just took off right in the middle of the game. My mom always gave me credit for saving a bucket for her on defense because I was able to stop a fast break as a five or six year old.”
And even with the demanding nature of running a basketball program, Fabbri went out of her way to make time for her own kids as they grew up.
Paul Henry Fabbri: “(During) my senior year of high school basketball she was scheduling practices around my schedule because she was like, ‘I am not missing any of your games.’ I was the last kid who was still playing, and I was having a really great year. But it’s so funny because she was so cool and tame in the stands. (She had) that different side of her being the intense coach on the sidelines, and then coming to her kid’s game and just sitting there waiting and never getting really too crazy.”
Her ability to have the same level of care for her bloodline and her “adopted family” is unwavering.
Fay: “That is my mom away from home. Her ability to push and to maximize potential and all of her players and at the same time to put an arm around them is incredible.”
AJ Fabbri: “It’s very gratifying to hear other players view my mom as a mother figure. That’s just the type of woman she is. I just think that that speaks to her character so much.”
AJ Fabbri: “As a young man growing up in today’s day and age, I just feel very grateful to have such a strong, brave and courageous female role model in my life. For me, it was never men’s basketball or women’s basketball. Basketball was basketball because in our household, it didn’t matter.”
While Fabbri’s daughter, Carly, eventually joined the team as a player, she was always involved with the program in some way from a very young age.
Carly Fabbri: Being on the bench (growing up) and seeing how the coaches acted, how the players acted. That was such an advantage for me. To be able to be like, ‘Okay, even if you have a bad play and you get subbed out, this is how you should act. You should just go to the bench, you shouldn’t hang your head.’ And just being around that at such an impressionable age … Taught me right from wrong.”
MacGillivray: “It felt like Carly was part of the team long before she started playing. She was there handing out the water and on the bench waving the towel long before her playing years, so it just seemed like a natural transition.”
Carly Fabbri: “I was a water girl. I took that job very seriously. I knew which girls wanted Gatorade, which girls wanted water, which girls needed an extra cup for whatever reason.”
Trica and Carly Fabbri’s dynamic changed from mother/daughter to coach/player as well in 2014.
Nolan: “I remember when she was going to coach Carly… I remember her calling Kim Mulkey and Chris Gobrecht (to ask) what it’s like having to coach your daughter. She had a couple role models there.”
AJ Fabbri: “I think my mom kind of wanted to be hands off and let Carly have her own college experience with it.”
Carly Fabbri: “I feel like we did a good job of keeping it relatively normal. I wouldn’t really call her mom on the court, she was always Coach on the court.”
Abshire: “Carly earned every single minute that she played. If you wanted me to print out a teammate being the perfect teammate, it would be Carly Fabbri, in every way that year.”
Carly Fabbri’s Quinnipiac playing career ended in Connecticut in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The cheers from her home state fans roared as she and her mom embraced in a quick hug for their final moment as coach and daughter.
Carly Fabbri: “(For my last game) to be up there at Gampel (Pavillion) and playing in front of 10,000 people with Geno Auriemma, and for that to how my college career ended… If I had to lose, it might as well be to UConn and in that kind of environment. But then obviously doing it with my mom it literally was like a storybook.”
Lahey: “I still remember when Carly came out of the game at UConn, there wasn’t a dry eye, at least among the Quinnipiac fans. There wasn’t a dry eye to see her come out, and it still chokes me up to see her hug her mom.”
Mecca: “But to see the hug and the culmination of a chapter of their life in a book that had closed. That’s all time, not every love story has a happy ending.”
Fabbri’s Lasting Legacy at Quinnipiac
Martin: “I cherish the legacy that we’ve been able to leave through the program, and it all starts with her.”
Fay: “I just want every kid that plays for wherever I’m coaching to love a school as much as I loved Quinnipiac and I loved playing for Coach Fabbri.”
Lahey: “It’s not just a great coaching career that she’s had over these past 30 years. It’s truly remarkable. I mean, it’s up there in a class by itself. I marvel at it. And the fact that she’s stayed with Quinnipiac when she could have left … You don’t see it very often.”
Dunbar: “When I talk about my current work ethic and everything like that, (my time at Quinnipiac) really did shape who I was and who I am, so now as a coach I carry some of those same passions and same fiery instincts.”
Mecca: “I don’t think a Trish Sacca/Fabbri sequel could be any better than your original one.”
Paul Henry Fabbri: “Honestly, something needs to be named after her when she’s all said and done at Quinnipiac, because of how much she’s done for the university.”
As the NCAA hockey and basketball seasons come to an end, both sports are entering another offseason defined by the transfer portal. Over 1,300 men’s and women’s basketball players have already entered since the window opened this week and men’s and women’s hockey are again expected to see a record number of entrants.
QUSportsPage will update this page with Quinnipiac’s departures and additions during the transfer portal periods.
Men’s Basketball
Portal opening date: March 24th
Portal closing date: April 22nd
Amarri Monroe | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
The 2025 MAAC Player of the Year from Newburgh, New York, averaged 18.1 ppg and had 14 double-doubles in his second year in Hamden. The All-MAAC First Team selection this past season has heard from multiple schools in the SEC, Big Ten, Big East and ACC since entering the portal, according to On3sports.
Paul Otieno | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Otieno spent three seasons with the Bobcats and garnered an All-MAAC First Team nomination in 2024-25. He finished behind Monroe in the MAAC’s double-double leaderboards (13) and was among the nation’s best in offensive rebounding. After spending his first collegiate seasons at Kilgore College (TX), the Kenyan native joined the 1,000 point club this past year, and was granted another graduate season after the NCAA’s junior college eligibility waiver ruling.
Doug Young | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Young played two seasons at the JUCO level, one at Odessa College (TX) and one at Midland College (TX), but has spent the past two seasons with the Bobcats. He averaged 5.4 ppg off the bench this past season and scored a season-high 18 points against Sacred Heart. Young was granted another year of eligibility under the same precedent as Otieno.
Ryan Mabrey | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Coming over as a transfer last spring after spending his first two seasons at Miami (OH), Mabrey averaged 4.3 ppg in 32 games (12 starts) with Quinnipiac in what’s looking like his lone season in Hamden. He scored in double figures five times including a 17- point outburst in November against St. John’s where he buried a season high five triples.
Khaden Bennett | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
In his second year in Hamden, Bennett had anything but a sophomore slump. He averaged 10.3 ppg on the season, including three 20-plus point games. He spent most the beginning half of the year as the primary ball handler with veteran guard Savion Lewis out with an injury. Many times guarding the opposing team’s second or third scoring option, Bennett compiled 43 steals during the season.
Women’s Basketball
Portal opening date: March 24th
Portal closing date: April 22nd
Gal Raviv | Guard
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
Raviv was the first player in MAAC history to win both Rookie and Player of the Year awards. The Kadima, Israel native finished the season averaging 17.9 points per game, the most for a Quinnipiac women’s basketball player since the 2013-14 season.
Men’s Ice Hockey
Portal opening date: March 30th
Portal closing date: May 13th
Noah Altman | Goaltender
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Atlman’s four years in Hamden made him the longest-tenured player in the program this season. He appeared in parts of seven games across four seasons, but his lively personality made him a favorite in both the locker room and among fans over the years. His impact on the program warranted his selection as an alternate captain for the 2024-25 season.
Nate Benoit | Defenseman
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
With his portal entry, Benoit is destined for his third team in as many seasons. He spent his freshman year with North Dakota before transferring into Quinnipiac for his sophomore season. In 2024-25 with the Bobcats, he appeared in 21 games and recorded two assists. Benoit’s last appearance for Quinnipiac was in its ECAC Tournament semifinal loss to Cornell, where he slotted in as the seventh defenseman but did not see any ice time. He was a healthy scratch in the team’s NCAA Tournament loss to UConn.
Michael Salandra | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
Salandra did not play in his first year in Hamden. During the 2023-24 season, he played in the BCHL, a part of the West Kelowna Warriors organization. During his second year with the Warriors, he was named an alternate captain and recorded 21 goals and 23 assists.
Noah Eyre | Forward
Years of eligibility remaining: 3
During his first year in Hamden, Eyre only appeared in five games and last played on Jan. 31 against Dartmouth. He came to Quinnipiac from the Sioux Falls Stampede along with two other Quinnipiac freshmen, Tyler Borgula and Chris Pelosi.
Chase Ramsay | Defenseman
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
Similar to Eyre, Ramsay only played a handful of games in his second season in Hamden. During the season, there were two months between each of his three appearances. Playing seven games total in two years, Ramsay did not record a single point while wearing the blue and gold.
Women’s Ice Hockey
Portal opening date: March 16th
Portal closing date: April 29th
Outgoing Players
Tiana McIntyre | Defender
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
McIntyre, a native of Park City, Utah, dressed for 36 of the team’s 38 games in 2024-25. She did not register a point, but recorded 21 shots on goal, had an even plus-minus rating, and tied for seventh on the team with 16 blocked shots. As a sophomore in 2023-24, McIntyre had two assists and a +6 rating.
Incoming Players
Calli Hogarth | Goaltender | Merrimack
Years of eligibility remaining: 1
Hogarth played three seasons in North Andover, serving as Merrimack’s primary starter or a platoon goaltender in each of them. In 2024-25, she started 23 games for the Warriors, finishing with a 2.79 goals against average and .904 save percentage. At 6 feet tall, Hogarth reflects the growing trend of bigger goaltenders in women’s college hockey. She is expected to compete with rising sophomore Felicia Frank for playing time.
Alex Law | Forward | Boston University
Years of eligibility remaining: 2
Law was a highly-touted recruit coming into college, playing for Canada’s national team at two IIHF Under-18 World Championships. She played two seasons for the Terriers, putting up 13 points as a freshman and nine this past year as a sophomore. She recorded an assist in BU’s NCAA tournament loss to Clarkson. Law also was a member of BU’s lacrosse team and is expected to play both sports at Quinnipiac.
Every year before the MAAC women’s basketball season starts, the 13 coaches in the conference vote on how they think the teams will finish.
Sometimes the coaches predict the conference dead on, other times they predict dead wrong. Most times, they meet somewhere in the middle.
The MAAC Tournament tips off at noon on Tuesday with No. 8 Manhattan and No. 9 Canisius playing each other. In anticipation of that, QU Sports Page’s Zach Carter and Ben Yeargin take a look back at what the MAAC coaches predicted the conference standings would be — and how right or wrong they were.
The order below follows the order in which the coaches voted each team to finish in the preseason poll, followed by each team’s actual finish heading into the conference tournament.
1. Fairfield Stags (25-4, 13-1 MAAC)
Actual finish: 1
The coaches hit a home run here. Despite the reigning MAAC Player of the Year (and also preseason player of the year) graduate guard Janelle Brown tearing her ACL, Fairfield thrived in conference play.
The Stags finished 19-1 while leading the MAAC in scoring offense and scoring defense. They also received votes in the AP Poll for the second-consecutive year.
Fairfield is the deepest team in the conference. Its offense is led by sophomore roadrunner (a term the Stags use in place of forward) Meghan Andersen, who is averaging 15 points per game, but the Stags also have two other eligible players who average at least eight or more points a game in sophomore guard Kaety L’Amoreaux and senior roadrunner Emina Selimovic.
Anyone on Fairfield can take and make a three and its best players can score at all three levels, making the Stags difficult to defend.
In the MAAC Tournament, Fairfield is the No. 1 seed and favorite to win it all, but with its No. 51 NET ranking, the Stags have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid.
But whether in preseason or post, Fairfield cemented itself as the conference’s best team.
– Yeargin
2. Siena Saints (17-12, 14-6 MAAC)
Actual finish: 3
The coaches poll set expectations high for the Saints, who met the bar by rattling off their second-consecutive third-place finish in the conference. Success all year has been predicated on the team’s backcourt, fronted by junior Teresa Seppala and graduate Ahniysha Jackson. Both guards rank in the top two on the team of minutes per game and points per game by a wide margin.
The poll named Seppala a projected First Team All-MAAC recipient and Jackson a second team finish. The crystal ball was spot on, with both being announced March 10 to the first and second teams, respectively. Seppala made it unanimously.
Last year, Niagara bounced Siena from Atlantic City in a 17-point win. The Purple Eagles outscored the Saints 34-11 in the first quarter, and the Saints were never able to climb back from the deficit.
But the Saints are surging as of late, winning their final four games of the year. In their most recent game against conference bottom feeder Rider, the Saints drubbed the Broncs by 37 points. Head coach Terry Primm and his squad have all their ducks in a row heading into the conference tournament, looking to wash away the pain of last year’s semi-final loss.
– Carter
T-3. Niagara (3-25, 2-18 MAAC)
Actual finish: 13
Reality and prediction sometimes don’t mix.
What the coaches thought they were voting on in the preseason was a Purple Eagles team that just pushed Fairfield to overtime in the MAAC Tournament and retained two of their three leading scorers. They were predicting a squad that would bounce right back up and wreak havoc on the conference.
Instead, what it received was a mostly inexperienced roster that had the sixth-worst scoring defense in the country. The Purple Eagles didn’t win a MAAC game until Feb. 27 against Iona.
What doesn’t help is Niagara’s two best players missed chunks of the season. Senior forward Aaliyah Parker redshirted this season and junior forward Amelia Strong played 16 of the Purple Eagles 28 games.
You can’t predict injuries, but the coaches could’ve seen an inexperienced roster that lacked Division I-depth. In other words, the MAAC coaches were dead wrong on this one.
– Yeargin
T-3. Quinnipiac (26-3, 18-2 MAAC)
Actual finish: 2
Both Quinnipiac and the coaches poll anticipated success for the Bobcats in 2024-25. Where the predictions went askew was more nuanced — just how much success the Bobcats would have eluded the MAAC’s coaches. Few expected a freshman from Israel to take the league by storm and grow the Bobcats into one of the most formidable mid-major teams in the nation.
Gal Raviv did just that.
A starter in every game for Quinnipiac this year, Raviv displayed excellence in all facets. She averaged 18.0 points and 5.7 assists and made the All-MAAC First Team despite not being named to any of the three teams in the preseason. Not to mention, she won rookie and conference player of the year.
Quinnipiac’s supporting cast in Jackie Grisdale, Karson Martin, Anna Foley and others make this team especially dangerous. The Bobcats have built up a conference-best defense, limiting teams to just 54.4 points per game, and handed Fairfield its first conference loss in two years March 8.
The Bobcats outperformed the preseason poll’s expectations and solidified themselves as one of the conference’s premier teams. They should make some noise in March, going as far as their first-year phenom will take them.
– Carter
Photo: Quinnipiac Chronicle
5. Sacred Heart (9-20, 5-15 MAAC)
Actual finish: 12
Junior guard Ny’Ceara Pryor was arguably the best player in the conference this season. She led the MAAC in scoring per game and steals per game (she leads Division I in the latter category). In all other worlds, she would be accepting her third-straight conference player of the year award for her work this season.
But Sacred Heart finished No. 12 in the MAAC with a 5-15 conference record and missed the MAAC Tournament altogether.
How? Terrible shooting and a lack of offensive production behind her. The reigning NEC champions shot 37.9% on the season and league-worst 24.4% from three. In 16 of the Pioneers’ 20 conference games, their opponents shot better than them.
Pryor was incredible this year. She also finished seventh in rebounds per game as a 5-foot-3-inch guard, but no one else stepped up. Sacred Heart showed flashes of its brilliance, but never pieced together any notable wins.
The Pioneers will have seven long months to improve before it goes again for year two in the MAAC. The coaches laid a massive goose egg on this one.
– Yeargin
6. Manhattan (15-24, 9-11 MAAC)
Actual finish: 8
A two-spot differential for Manhattan is not enough to keep them out of the tournament — they’ll take on Canisius Tuesday at noon — but it is enough to change the narrative around this group.
A sixth-place finish would have put Manhattan in the upper half of the conference’s 13 teams. At No. 8, they officially take on an underdog persona. Ignoring the Jaspers’ record quickly, this team has performed very well under the hood, better than most give them credit for. The Jaspers held the third-best point margin in the conference, one of four teams to boast a positive differential between its offensive and defensive output.
Team defense is a big factor in that, holding opponents to a conference-best 36.8% percentage from the floor, while shooting 42.5% from the floor themselves, third-best in the MAAC. The Jaspers also lead the conference at 4.48 blocks per game. They grab the most rebounds per game (37.1) of any team in the conference and average the second-most assists of any team (15.9).
With an abundance of promising statistics in mind, let’s bring their record back into play. The portrayal now shifts. At No. 8 in the MAAC heading into the tournament, this is no longer an upper-half team like the coaches anticipated. This is a group that underperformed in the regular season, but one that has all the tools it needs in its toolbox to pull off a surprising run.
– Carter
7. Mount St. Mary’s (14-15, 12-8 MAAC)
Actual finish: 4
In front of Mount St. Mary’s in the preseason poll is Manhattan, but the Jaspers were in front of the Mountaineers by over 26 points. That’s a clear indicator that the Mount didn’t belong in the conference’s upper echelon.
Come March, Mount finished four spots ahead of Manhattan in the MAAC.
Fueled by career years from senior guard Jo Raflo, graduate guard Anna LeMaster and freshman guard Gabrielle Kennerly, the Mount was the best three-point shooting team in the conference. It shot 35% from deep.
Additionally, the Mountaineers had a seven-game win streak in conference that featured a dominant performance over Siena and an overtime win at Quinnipiac. However , they’ve also had losing streaks in conference too. The Mount previously lost four of five conference games before beating Marist on the final day of the season.
The reason for its losses coincides with its field-goal percentage. When the Mount shot under 40% in conference play, it went 2-7.
For that, the coaches deserve some grace, but not a complete absolution of responsibility. They were wrong, and underestimated a team that can be dominant.
– Yeargin
8. Iona (10-20, 8-12 MAAC)
Actual finish: 10
The Gaels were predicted to be a lower-half playoff team, and while that expectation did realize, it only did so by a minuscule margin. Iona grabbed the very last spot in the MAAC tournament in underwhelming fashion, losing six straight games to end the regular season.
The Gaels did not have a single player average over 10 points on the year, with the two closest players, Ella Fajardo and Judith Gomez, averaging 9.6 and 9.5 respectively. Unlike most MAAC teams, the Gaels’ roster is void of the X-factor that one usually relies on when this time of the year rolls around. Like Raviv for Quinnipiac. Janneh for St. Peter’s. Seppala and Jackson for Siena. Iona lacks that special talent, and it could hurt them come Tuesday.
A conference will almost always have its outliers, the teams who lose just a handful of games and the teams that barely win just a handful of games, but the middle is where the majority of programs fall. Iona was one of those teams. Its stock is low — the lowest its been all season — and if the Gaels are able to beat No. 7 Saint Peter’s in the opening round, they’ll have to take on No. 2 Quinnipiac the very next day.
But then again, March means madness.
– Carter
9. Rider (7-22, 5-15 MAAC)
Actual finish: 11
The coaches weren’t too far off with this prediction, but there’s still a large difference between a playoff team and one that’s not.
Rider’s case was one of single digits.
The Broncs finished three games outside of a postseason bid. In MAAC play, they lost four games by single digits. If they won those four games instead, Rider is a MAAC Tournament team. But reality is they didn’t.
There were some positives for Rider, though.
Senior guard Gabby Turco had an excellent year, averaging 13.9 points per game with 3.5 rebounds per contest too. Also, freshman forward Winner Bartholomew likely earned herself a spot on the All-MAAC Rookie Team with her 8.3 points per game and 3.8 boards per game.
The middle of the MAAC was hard to predict for anyone; the coaches weren’t that far off. But still, they were somewhat wrong.
– Yeargin
10. Saint Peter’s (11-18, 9-11 MAAC)
Actual finish: 7
The coaches swung and missed on Saint Peter’s, figuring they might sneak into the tournament as the final team. Or they might not. Then again, the poll is never exactlyright. But No. 7 is much different from No. 10. If Saint Peter’s beats Iona in the opening round, it won’t have to play Fairfield the day after, though Quinnipiac does not present much of an easier matchup.
The Peacocks rely predominantly on one woman — Fatmata Janneh. At 18.3 points per game, she more than doubled the scoring of the team’s second-highest scorer Layla Laws at 9.0 ppg. Her selection to the All-MAAC First Team is more than deserved, given where Saint Peter’s might rank in the conference had Janneh not been around all year to produce at the level she has.
Again, the middle of any conference is difficult to perceive. The coaches shouldn’t be on the hook for an egregious miss, but the fact of the matter is they overlooked a Saint Peter’s team that has outperformed expectations this year.
– Carter
11. Marist (16-14, 11-9 MAAC)
Actual finish: 5
On the surface, Marist looked doomed. The Red Foxes finished last season at the bottom of the MAAC and lost their only MAAC Tournament game 60-47 to Mount St. Mary’s.
Additionally, they lost their two leading scorers in forward Zaria Shazer and guard Kiara Fisher.
But right below the surface was a young core of players that was eager to prove itself, and they did. Marist plays the Mount again in the MAAC Tournament this year, but as the No. 5 seed.
Redshirt junior guard Lexie Tarul and junior center Morgan Lee are the duo that’s powered the Red Foxes offense this season. They’re one and two in points per game on the squad. Additionally, freshman guard Danielle Williamsen notched an All-MAAC Rookie Team-worthy nine points per game this year.
Junior forward Ciara Croker, junior guard Jackie Piddock, sophomore guard Julia Corsentino and senior guard Catie Cunningham all play significant roles on Marist. Croker and Piddock round out the starting five, while Cunningham and Corsentino have the most minutes off the bench.
The coaches got this one very wrong, and doubted a young, deep Red Foxes squad.
– Yeargin
12. Merrimack (13-16, 9-11 MAAC)
Actual finish: 6
In support of the MAAC coaches, this one is not on them.
2024-25 was Merrimack’s very first season as a member of the MAAC and it’s impossible to know exactly how much homework each program’s coach had done on the Warriors at the time the poll was conducted. Merrimack was middle of the pack in the slightly-less competitive NEC last year, finishing 8-8 and losing in the second round to eventual MAAC conference-mate Sacred Heart.
Hence, the easy solution is to undervalue them.
The Warriors made some noise this season, led by sophomore guard Thalia Shepard at 13.0 points per game. They’ve rebounded well all year — second in the conference in rebounds per game behind Manhattan, doing so especially well on the offensive glass. Their 11.7 offensive boards per game ranks third in the conference.
The margin between Merrimack’s expected finish and actual finish was quite large, but don’t expect it to be that big again next year. Now that coaches have seen the Warriors at least once, there’s a good chance they will more accurately judge Merrimack’s finish when it comes time to take the 2025-26 poll.
– Carter
13. Canisius (10-20, 9-11 MAAC)
Actual finish: 9
Canisius was a complete unknown entering this season. No one expected anything of it, granted there wasn’t anything to base predictions on.But the Golden Griffins surprised the MAAC.
Head coach Tiffany Swoffard’s squad earned their way into the MAAC Tournament by beating Rider on March 6 and now have a date with Manhattan to tip off the tournament.
Graduate guard Jaela Johnson notched 11.6 points per game while leading the squad in minutes. Sophomore forward Shariah Gailes finished third in the conference with 8.3 rebounds per game.
The Golden Griffins’ biggest question mark heading into the tournament is a lack of MAAC Tournament experience on the roster. But if Canisius taught us anything this year, it’s to expect nothing from them.
Not even the coaches expected anything of the Golden Griffins, which may be what they want you to think heading into the MAAC Tournament too.
Thursday night at Fairfield’s Leo D. Mahoney Arena, Quinnipiac women’s basketball and the Stags — the top-two teams in the MAAC — will square off in their first meeting of the season.
This matchup will bring forth answers about the future of the MAAC come the postseason, But before the game starts, there’s also lots of questions to be answered. How will these two teams match up? Who’s the X-factor? What are the biggest questions each team needs to answer?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each team?
Connor Coar: The Bobcats’ front court will have to play their best basketball of the season to keep this game close. Sophomore forward Anna Foley leads the way with 10.6 points per game, and her frontcourt counterpart, graduate forward Caranda Perea, has the abilities of a stretch four and is not scared to shoot the ball. Junior Ella O’Donnell and senior Grace LaBarge often sub in for Foley and Perea and bring similar attributes off the bench.
A consistent rotation has worked the entire season, but don’t be surprised if there is a 50-50 split between the two groups to keep their legs fresh.
Khalise Harris: Fairfield has been dominant at home, boasting an impressive 8-1 record at Leo D. Mahoney. The Stags thrive on home court, averaging 72 points per game while holding opponents to just 52.5 points. Their strong fandom adds to this edge. Their last home game against Manhattan was a sellout with an attendance of 3,573. Fairfield’s home dominance isn’t new either — last season, it went undefeated at home (13-0), proving just how difficult it is for opponents to win in their arena.
Benjamin Yeargin: The Stags’ biggest advantage is their defense. Fairfield is top-three in the MAAC in every defensive category you can think of: scoring defense, opponent field-goal percentage, opponent three-point percentage and forcing turnovers. In Hamden, the Bobcats’ biggest advantage is their guard play. Senior guard Jackie Grisdale, sophomore guard Karson Martin and freshman guard Gal Raviv all sit within the top-20 of the conference in points per game at 13, 20 and fourth.
The biggest disadvantage for Fairfield is that it doesn’t shoot free-throws well. Fairfield is tied for third-worst in the MAAC in free-throw percentage with a 66.7% integer. Sure, those free-throws don’t necessarily matter when your average margin of victory is 20.9 points, but going into close MAAC Tournament games and against competitive teams like Quinnipiac, they matter.
For the Bobcats, it’s allowing teams to score in the paint. In its only loss of conference play, Quinnipiac was outscored 24-20 in the paint. Fairfield limits teams to access the post and have guards that aren’t afraid to drive into the paint. To win the game, the Bobcats have to outscore Fairfield in the paint.
Fairfield
Quinnipiac
74.8
Points/G
68.7
53.8
Points Allowed/G
58.7
14.3
Turnovers/G
12.6
33.2%
Three-point %
35%
66.7%
Free Throw %
74.5%
Bold indicates top two in MAAC
How would you describe this game in one word?
Coar: Revealing
When it’s the top two teams in the league, both sides are going to find out a lot about themselves. Raviv had the second-worst day of her collegiate career shooting the ball against Mount St. Mary’s on Jan. 18, due in large part to the defensive guard play from the Mountaineers for the 42 minutes that she was on the floor. Fairfield has 10 players with over 15 minutes played per game this season. Bodies are going to get thrown at Raviv when Quinnipiac is on offense. The question lies in how the first-year will respond to the adversity.
Fairfield lost to Indiana by 33 in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s March Madness Tournament in large part to the height differential between the two teams. The Stags will have the height disadvantage against the Bobcats on paper, so they can’t allow the Bobcats to play inside-out and continue their hot shooting from behind the arc (35%; good for second in the MAAC).
Harris: Tense
A lot is on the line for both teams. A Fairfield loss would mark their first conference defeat since the 2022-2023 season while leaving them and Quinnipiac tied at the top of the MACC, matching 9-1 records. For Quinnipiac, this game is more than just a rivalry, but an opportunity to snap their two-game losing streak against Fairfield. Their last win over them dates back to March 4, 2023, in a 52-39 final.
A victory here would boost momentum for both teams and for Quinnipiac, especially. This would set them up for a crucial showdown on Saturday against Siena, the third-ranked team in the MACC. After suffering their first conference loss against Mount St. Mary’s, Quinnipiac is hungry to get back on track, and this game could be the spark they needed to ignite their energy and reclaim their dominant form.
Yeargin: Difficult
This game will be a true test for both teams. Quinnipiac will have to find ways to defend the floor at all three-levels, mitigate Fairfield’s transition offense and limit its own turnovers. Pretty much, don’t allow the Stags to use their strengths. That will be tough to do; no one in the MAAC has successfully stopped them. With the combination of Fairfield’s dynamic road runners like sophomore Meghan Andersen and senior Emina Selimovic, the Stags can easily access and score at all three levels.
But for Fairfield, the Bobcats will be their biggest test in conference play and could doom them to its first MAAC loss in nearly two years. Quinnipiac’s perimeter defense has excelled this year with Grisdale leading the helm, which will be annoying for the Stags five-out offense. Additionally, the Bobcats have turned the rock over the fewest times in the MAAC and have bigs that are larger and can guard Fairfield’s road runners at all three levels. Both teams hope to flex their strengths to a win and register a statement win in the MAAC.
What are the biggest questions each team needs to answer?
Coar: How does Quinnipiac manage late game situations?
The two Bobcats losses this season have both come in overtime. Players and coaches have said they deserved to win their first game against Miami over Thanksgiving break, giving up 16 points in the overtime frame. The ball is going to be in Raviv’s hands no matter how you want to draw it up for Quinnipiac. The decision making from her and the rest of the backcourt will be one of the biggest factors if Quinnipiac ends up with a win Thursday night. Oh yeah, this game is also on the road.
Yeargin: How do the Stags defend Quinnipiac’s Gal Raviv?
Raviv has been remarkable for the Bobcats. She’s won seven MAAC Rookie of the Week awards, is fourth in the conference in points per game, seventh in assists and seventeenth in rebounding. Even in games where the entire team isn’t performing, Raviv manages to step up, making it crucial for Fairfield to stop her. The Stags could match up sophomore guard Kaety L’Amoreaux with Raviv, and clog up the lanes with their road runners so Raviv is unable to get to the basket, where she excels. No matter what the Stags strategy is, just know that in their scout they’ve highlighted Quinnipiac No. 14, and they will have a gameplan to limit Raviv’s scoring.
Harris: How does Fairfield prepare defensively for this matchup?
Despite Fairfield’s offensive edge — averaging 6.1 more points per game than Quinnipiac — the Bobcats hold the upper hand from beyond the arc, shooting 35% from three. Quinnipiac’s size in the front court also presents a challenge for the Stags, presenting a “mismatch” in the paint. Adding to Fairfield’s concerns, the Bobcats are efficient from the free-throw line, converting 74.5%. If the Stags can’t play disciplined defense, they risk sending Quinnipiac to the line, where the Bobcats can capitalize and pad their scoring.
Who is the X-factor of this matchup?
Coar: Quinnipiac sophomore guard Paige Girardi. The second year has seen a significant drop off in minutes in her second season compared to her first year of almost 14 minutes per game. Due in large part to the team being healthy again, Girardi has played her role with little to no errors. Many times spelling Raviv or senior guard Jackie Grisdale, running the second unit with only six turnovers the entire year. The two starters, Raviv and Grisdale, are both in the top ten in the entire country in minutes, but when Girardi gets into the game, limiting turnovers against the fast paced Stags will be key.
Yeargin: Fairfield sophomore guard Kaety L’Amoreaux. Since the reigning MAAC Player of the Year Janelle Brown went down with a season-ending ACL injury, L’Amoreaux has been forced to step up. She has. Since Brown’s injury, L’Amoreaux is averaging 14.9 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game. And she has to continue to do so against Quinnipiac. She’ll face a difficult defensive matchup whether she is guarded by Grisdale, Raviv or Martin and she’ll have to guard one of those three too. For the Stags to succeed, they have to limit the Bobcats guards from scoring and L’Amoreaux should be the center of that gameplan.
Harris: Quinnipiac sophomore guard Karson Martin. With guard Jackie Grisdale’s season-ending injury in 2023, Martin was thrust into a significant role during her first year. She appeared in 24 games last season, starting 21, and she has played and started in all 18 games this season. With defenses primarily focused on other playmakers, including Raviv, Karson takes advantage of the extra space, making her a silent threat on the court. She currently sits third on the team in three-pointers made, with 17 this season, 30 assists and 21 steals so far.
