Women’s Basketball Drops MAAC Semifinal Matchup to Quinnipiac

Atlantic City, N.J. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team was defeated by Quinnipiac University on Friday afternoon in the MAAC semifinals. Thalia Shepard scored a team-high 18 points in the loss. Paloma Garcia added 17 points and eight rebounds in the defeat.
 
The Basics
Score: #2 Quinnipiac 65, #6 Merrimack 51
Records: #2 Quinnipiac (28-3, 18-2), #6 Merrimack (14-17, 9-11)
 
Rapid Recap
Paloma Garcia got the scoring going for the Warriors a little over a minute into the game. Shepard followed up with a bucket of her own to make it a four-point advantage. The Bobcats answered back with a three to pull within one. Lydia Melashenko then found the bottom of the net from deep, sending Merrimack up four. Rose Caso nailed a free on a fast break to swell the advantage to seven. Quinnipiac battled back getting the lead down to three with three minutes to play in the first quarter. Daria Shiskina hit a step back jumper to put Merrimack up four. After a Bobcat bucket, Shepard would drive the lane for two, sending the Warriors into the next quarter up four. Quinnipiac opened the second quarter with a score, making it a one possession game. Caso hit her first three of the afternoon to get the lead back up to five. The Bobcats then went on a 13-point run to flip the game and take their first lead of the game at eight. Shepard stopped the run with a layup. She would add two free throws making it a two-possession game. Quinnipiac ended the quarter on a four-point run to head into halftime up eight.   
 
The second half started off with a seven-point run by the Bobcats which sent them up by 15 points. Shepard once again stopped the run with a layup. Garcia then found the bottom of the net with a jumper to cut the lead to 11. She then hit a jumper to get the lead down to nine. After a Quinnipiac jumper then Warriors went on an eight-point run to drop the advantage down to four. The Bobcats hit a jumper towards the end of the quarter to head into the final stanza up six. Molly Manion posted up for two cutting the lead down to four points early in the fourth quarter Quinnipiac then hit a three to go up seven. Garcia knocked down two free throws to make it a two-possession game. Both teams then traded buckets. Six minutes into the final quarter, Merrimack found themselves down seven. The Bobcats then added five straight points to go up 12. Garcia converted on three-point play to make it a nine-point game. Quinnipac would finish the game by scoring nine out of the last 13 points to win the game by 14.


Notes and Numbers
 
Caso finished the game, one point away from a double-double after scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
The Warriors scored 26 points in the paint.
Merrimack shot 83% from the line in the loss.