Recap: Stanford Women’s Basketball defeats Quinnipiac to advance in WBIT
On Sunday, Stanford women’s basketball defeated Quinnipiac at Maples Pavilion by a final score of 81-69 to advance to the quarterfinals of the WBIT. Stanford guard Chloe Clardy (18 points) and forward Alexandra Eschmeyer (18 points & 5 rebounds) led the way for the Cardinal while Quinnipiac forward Ella O’Donnell (17 points & 5 rebounds) was the top performer for the Bobcats. 18 points was a career-high for Eschmeyer.
VIDEO: Stanford Postgame Press Conference-Quinnipiac: WBIT
BOX SCORE: Quinnipiac at Stanford-Sunday, March 22nd
“It’s great to see everyone. First, I’d like to congratulate and compliment Quinnipiac,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “Obviously an excellent team. Won the MAAC regular season championship. They are extremely skilled and they can flat out shoot and they’re very well coached. Tricia Fabbri is a fantastic coach. She is a legend. Obviously, we know that she has announced her retirement. So, bittersweet that this was her last game and an honor for us to be participate in that. We are very appreciative that she has done for women’s basketball. What an incredible career.
“So, I am extremely proud of our team. You know, they are an excellent team and our team had to work really hard and winners find a way to win. And we had a great team effort. A great team effort, having six double digit scorers. We count so much on every night on Nunu, on Chloe, with Courtney and they really delivered.
“We had some really special solos. Different people stepping up. I want to highlight Alex Eschmeyer, career-high 18 points. It was really exciting. You know, when I look at Alex’s stat line six for seven. Two huge threes. You like that, John? Okay. Two huge threes, especially the one late in the second half. I think that was the fourth quarter there. And going four for four from the free throw line, especially those two big ones at the end. Just huge play by Alex.
“And huge play off the bench with Mary Ashley Stevenson. MA is a junior captain on our team. She provides so much leadership. MA is kind of, you know, four of our coaches played in the WNBA. MA is a pro. I mean, she is a great teammate. She is always ready. Whatever her team needs, you know, come in, make a critical entry pass. Well, tonight we needed her to come in and play great defense on their post. Both of those bigs that they have, 12 and 23 are excellent. She had huge rebounds. 10 points, nine rebounds, huge night from MA. She helped us run offense. I think she really steadied our team when we were a little bit out of sorts. So, very excited for MA, Alex, and really our entire team.”
The 1st quarter was a very much a back and forth affair as Quinnipiac would lead 16-15 at the end. Karson Martin was up to six points for the Bobcats while Eschmeyer had six points for the Cardinal. Quinnipiac was shooting 6-15 (40.0%) from the field while Stanford was shooting 7-16 (43.8%) from the field.
Stanford led Quinnipiac 23–18 with 8:00 to go in the 2nd quarter. The Cardinal went on a 6–0 run as Alexandra Eschmeyer moved up to eight points while Clardy had seven points. Stanford was 10-of-19 from the field.
Stanford led Quinnipiac 37–28 with 1:31 remaining in the 2nd quarter. The Cardinal were in the midst of an 8–0 run as Eschmeyer increased her total to 11 points and four rebounds. Stanford continued to gain separation.
Stanford led Quinnipiac 42–33 at halftime. The Cardinal made five of their final five field goal attempts. Alexandra Eschmeyer led Stanford with 11 points and four rebounds, while Chloe Clardy, Nunu Agara, and Mary Ashley Stevenson each scored eight points. Ella O’Donnell and Anna Foley each had 10 points for the Bobcats. Stanford was in control at the break.
“Yeah, I mean, I think I’ve talked a lot with Kate and everybody about being, like, being really aggressive,” Eschmeyer said. “And just like grabbing the ball and I think just like having that aggressive mindset really helped me today and just like utilizing my teammates. Finding the open looks and yeah, it was a great energy out there.”
Stanford led Quinnipiac 48–40 with 5:00 remaining in the 3rd quarter. The Bobcats outscored the Cardinal 7–6 in the quarter up to that point, though Quinnipiac had gone cold, making just one of its last seven field goal attempts. O’Donnell moved up to 12 points to lead all scorers.
Stanford led Quinnipiac 59–49 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Clardy increased her total to 14 points to lead the Cardinal. Foley’s 15 points for the Bobcats led all scorers, but she needed more help. Free throw shooting made a significant difference, as Stanford went 14-of-17 from the line while Quinnipiac was 3-of-3.
Stanford led Quinnipiac 68–58 with 4:14 to go. Stanford held a 32–26 rebounding advantage and shot 51.0 percent from the field, while Quinnipiac shot 40.7 percent. The Cardinal were positioned to finish strong.
From there, Stanford would go on to win 81-69 as Quinnipiac was unable to mount a comeback. A couple of steals and finishes in transition by Courtney Ogden and Chloe Clardy helped seal the deal for the Cardinal.
“Huge steals,” Paye said. “I thought we were at our best when we got, you know, handsy and started getting deflections. MA, I think kind of started off when she came in the first quarter and got her hands on the balls. Huge steal by Courtney and Chloe, you know, that’s what Chloe’s been doing ever since she was on The Farm. Huge defensive plays. I can go back to her freshman year when she made some game saving steals and that was a big one where she got that steal in the breakaway layup.”
To touch quickly on Quinnipiac, this was the last game for their head coach Tricia Fabbri, who was at the helm for 30 seasons. Fabbri is a very well respected coach who guided the Bobcats to 12 postseason appearances including five trips to the NCAA tournament (2017 Sweet Sixteen). It truly is the end of an era up in Hamden, Connecticut as Fabbri is the only head coach Quinnipiac women’s basketball has had during their time at the Division I level. Kinda like how the bobcat is the only wild cat in the state.
“It doesn’t feel,” Fabbri said of coaching her last game. “Honestly, it feels like there’s going to be another day, another practice. So, I don’t know. I think it’s probably something you’re going to have to ask me in time. We were ready to keep moving on and keep playing for the season. So, like I said right now, just still doesn’t feel real…Well, I would think that I’m always going to be a Bobcat. Because once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat. And I would like to think that she was a damn good coach who won a lot of games, but more importantly, I think what I saw was just, which was a bit overwhelming, you know, really, how much you do impact these young ladies day to day.
“So, it’s a lifelong Bobcat relationship with these young ladies. Like how it’s been for 30 years. Was hearing from everybody with the announcement this week…She’s a class act [Tara VanDerveer]. And so I was really thrilled to see her. I was glad she was here to share a moment with her. And by the way, she did say ‘You’re gonna LOVE retirement.’”
As for Stanford, this is a nice win. They are motivated to keep their season going. If they’re going to play in this tournament, they might as well make a deep run and that’s what they are in the process of doing. They really see this as a benefit as they look to grow back into an NCAA tournament caliber team.
“This is a great experience for us,” Paye said. “You know, anytime you’re playing in March, you’re very excited. We all know we’ve played a lot of young players this year and to get postseason experience is invaluable. You know, we’re excited and with our team we talked a lot about this opportunity being two things, really. Both an opportunity to write our own ending to the season that we like and that we’re excited about to our story of this year. This season. And to really lay the foundation and start writing the story to next season because it kind of is a bookend and can be both kind of a great closing ending and also a springboard to next year.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at BYU in the quarterfinals. That game will be played on Thursday, March 26th at 6:00 PM PT on ESPN+.
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