Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
0-1
Quinnipiac
1-0
Women's Basketball Drops Season Opener at Quinnipiac
November 15, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Junior Kelsey Minato led Army with 18 points to include a 6-of-7 showing from the free-throw line, while classmate Brianna Johnson matched her career high with 13 points and knocked in a career-best nine free throws on 12 attempts.
Quinnipiac was led by seniors Nikoline Ostergaard and Samantha Guastella, who chipped in 18 points and 15 points, respectively. Ostergaard added a game-high eight rebounds, helping the Bobcats control a 47-29 advantage on the boards.
The Black Knights shot 74.2 percent (23-for-31) from the foul line on the afternoon, but managed just 34.5 percent (19-of-55) from the floor, including a 3-for-18 showing from long range. Quinnipiac was successful on 50.9 percent (29-of-57) of its field goal attempts and converted three-pointers at a 40.0 percent (6-for-15) clip.
Army stayed in contention during the first half thanks to a 10-of-12 performance at the free-throw stripe, but went 10-of-28 from the floor, while allowing Quinnipiac to hit 15-of-34 from the field in the half.
Johnson and senior Olivia Schretzman carried the Black Knights early on, with the pair accounting for the team's first 15 points before Minato's jumper gave Army a 17-14 lead with 13:26 remaining in the half. Guastella scored to cut her team's deficit to one before Minato hit a pair of free throws to build the visitors' lead back to three at 19-16.
Quinnipiac hit the next eight points as part of an eventual 14-2 run that lasted 4:41. The Bobcats went 3-of-3 from deep during the scoring stretch to include six points from Guastella.
Minato stopped the bleeding with her first of two three-pointers on the afternoon to cut Quinnipiac's lead to 30-24 before the Black Knights scored seven of the game's next 12 points to move back to within four at 35-31 with 1:33 left until the halftime whistle.
The Bobcats extended their lead to 14 with a 10-0 run that stretched into the second half and included points from four players. Minato answered by using a personal 6-2 run to jumpstart an Army comeback that cut its 14-point deficit in half as the Black Knights trailed, 47-40, with 13:21 left. Quinnipiac built its lead back to 12 following buckets by graduate student Val Driscoll and senior Gillian Abshire before shooting 5-for-10 from the field over the last 8:25.
Schretzman finished with eight points and a team-best six rebounds for Army and sophomore Dani Failor accounted for 10 points and five boards.
Army returns to Christl Arena for its home opener against Stony Brook on Tuesday, November 18th. The contest is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
GAME NOTES: Army falls to 0-5 all-time versus Quinnipiac … Kelsey Minato scored 18 points to extend her Patriot League-leading double-digit scoring streak to 50 games … Brianna Johnson converted a career-high nine free throws, while matching a career best of 13 points … Jean Parker appeared in the starting lineup for the first time in her career … Janae McNeal, Aliyah Murray and Jahla Osborne all made their collegiate debuts, with Osborne scoring two points.
