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Miami Hurricanes WBB Hosts Quinnipiac for Spot in NCAA Sweet 16

By Alan Rubenstein

Mar 4, 2017; Conway , SC, USA; The Miami (FL) Hurricanes starters huddle prior to the start of the game against the Duke Blue Devils during the women's ACC Conference Tournament at HTC Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2017; Conway , SC, USA; The Miami (FL) Hurricanes starters huddle prior to the start of the game against the Duke Blue Devils during the women's ACC Conference Tournament at HTC Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Coming off a last second win over Florida Gulf Coast in the first round, the Miami Hurricanes women’s basketball team will host Quinnipiac in the second the round with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.

Quinnipiac pulled off the 12-five upset that is prevalent in the men’s NCAA Tournament with their victory over Marquette  on Saturday. The Bobcats had three players in double figures in the victory over the Eagles. Jen Fay led the way with 20, Paula Strautmane had 15 and Aryn McClure had 11.

If Marquette would have won, the game against Miami would have led to some confusion. The Golden Eagles were led by Erika Davenport with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Quinnipiac got off to huge first quarter leads. They led 9-0, 18-4 and took a 26-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. Quinnipiac extended the lead to 19 in the third quarter before Marquette mounted a furious comeback.

The Golden Eagles used a 12-2 run to cut the lead to nine at the end of three. They twice got within two in the fourth quarter, but Marquette twice missed game tying shots and Q made their free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

Quinnipiac won the game by shooting 52.8 percent from the field. They held Marquette to 43.1 percent. They were fortunate to win. Quinnipiac was out rebounded 33-26 and made just 9-14 from the line to 11-13 for Marquette. They also went just 3-14 on three-point attempts.

The Hurricanes should be able to keep Quinnipiac from shooting that well from the field. Their success shooting against Marquette was an aberration from the rest of the season. The Bobcats shoot just 38.9 percent from the floor on the year. They are elite defensively holding opponents to 35.9 percent from the floor.

Fay, Strautmane and McClure shot 19-31 against Marquette. From three, both Quinnipiac and their opponents shoot under 30 percent.

Miami’s guards Jessica Thomas and Adrienne Motley are going to have to do a good job of taking care of the ball. Qunnipiac forces an average of over 20 turnovers per game. The Hurricanes should also be able to turn them over as the Bobcats average over 14 turnovers of their own per game.

Getting back on defense is going to be essential for Miami. Quinnipiac scores nearly a third of their points off of turnovers. They average 19.5 points per game off turnovers. That’s from a total of 68.1 points per game average.

If the Hurricanes are going to advance they are going to need a better performance than they had on Saturday, particularly from Motley and Thomas. Motley scored four points on 1-6 from the field. Thomas finished with nine on 3-11 from the floor.

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Free throws played a huge roll in the Hurricanes advancing. Miami was 17-20 from the line to just 3-6 for Florida Gulf Coast. That’s far above the Hurricanes season average of 67.4 percent.

Miami will have a huge advantage in size. Three Quinnipiac players have a height of over 6’0 while Miami has six players that stand over 6’0. The Hurricanes were repeatedly able to pound Florida Gulf Coast inside with Keyonna Hayes and Emese Hof.

Hayes finished with 16 points and ten rebounds on 7-11 from the floor. Hof finished with 14 points and five rebounds on 5-8 from the floor in 20 minutes off the bench. Hayes had the game winning basket on a lay-up with 1.2 seconds left.

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Miami and Quinnipiac will tipoff at 9pm ET on ESPN from the Watsco Center. The winner gets a trip to the Sweet 16. The winner will face top seeded South Carolina in Stockton, California on Saturday. The Gamecocks, Oregon State and Florida State have already qualified for the Stockton Regional Semifinals.

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