McKinzee Barker (Bomont, WV/Clay County) distributed a game-high four assists in returning from a two-game absence due to injury.
Senior guard Jasmine McCall (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan [Seton Hall]) scored a career-high 20 points off the bench, including the game-tying and go-ahead free throws with 10.3 seconds remaining, as the Monmouth University women’s basketball team outlasted defending MAAC Champion Quinnipiac, 63-60, Saturday afternoon at the Multipurpose Activity Center. With the win, the Hawks improve to 4-8 (2-1 MAAC), while the Bobcats fall to 5-7 (0-3 MAAC).
McCall made 8-of-11 field-goal attempts, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, in just 17 minutes. Tyese Purvis (Queens, NY/Francis Lewis [Monroe C.C.]) added 16 points while shooting 3-of-6 from long range. Jamiyah Bethune (Union, NJ/Union [Penn State]) contributed nine points, six rebounds and three assists, while Christina Mitchell (Baltimore, MD/MATHS) had five points, 10 rebounds (eight offensive) and three steals. McKinzee Barker (Bomont, WV/Clay County) distributed a game-high four assists in returning from a two-game absence due to injury.
“That was a great team effort today,” said Monmouth Head Coach Jenny Palmateer. “We had the focus of really trying to win the hustle plays, the 50-50 balls and try to take some charges and I thought we were able to do that in all four quarters. We’re going to need that going forward in conference. I thought we had some people come in and do huge things. Obviously McCall’s points were huge for us. Chris had a great steal and we made some big free throws down the stretch. It was really just a total team victory. I couldn’t be happier for our team.”
After Quinnipiac established a 4-1 lead in the early going, the Hawks came back with an 8-0 run to take a 9-4 advantage with less than two minutes left in the period. Purvis scored six of the nine Monmouth points. Quinnipiac scored five of the next six points to cut the Hawks’ lead to one, before Monmouth took a 13-11 lead after one.
Monmouth’s lead grew to three on a pair of Walker free throws in the opening minute of the fourth, before the Bobcats scored six-straight to take a 50-47 lead with just under eight minutes remaining. The Quinnipiac lead stretched to four on Carly Fabbri’s conventional three-point play at the 7:02 mark. But Monmouth had the answer as McCall converted a putback and Barker found Sarah Olson (Freehold, NJ/Howell [NJIT]) for a lay-up off an inbounds play to tie the game at 53-53.
Barker made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:26 remaining to give the Hawks a 59-58 lead, before Napolitano made a steal and took it herself for a fast-break lay-up and a 60-59 Quinnipiac lead with 55 seconds remaining. Olson was fouled with 31.5 seconds remaining, but missed both free throws to leave the deficit at one. But on the ensuing Quinnipiac possession, Mitchell made the biggest of her game-high three steals. Following a Monmouth timeout, McCall was fouled with 10.3 seconds left and buried both free throws to give the Hawks a 61-60 lead. On the other end, the Hawks defense forced a turnover and Barker converted two free throws to push the advantage to 63-60 with 1.7 seconds left. Having already called its final timeout, Quinnipiac couldn’t advance the ball and the Bobcats’ heave from beyond half court wouldn’t fall, securing the victory for Monmouth