For almost three quarters, it seemed like the lid covered the basket. Then Niagara blew it off.
The second-seeded Purple Eagles missed their first 14 3-pointers against No. 7 Quinnipiac in the MAAC quarterfinals Wednesday until Marlie Dickerson and Destiny Strother canned back-to-back 3s in the final two minutes as Niagara made its final five shots of the third quarter to take a 12-point lead. The dam burst in the fourth quarter, with the Purple Eagles making 6 of 10 shots to start, rolling past the Bobcats, 70-56, in Atlantic City.
Niagara advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive season, where it will face the Siena-Mount St. Mary’s winner at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
“I was really proud of how we were able to finish the basketball,” Niagara coach Jada Pierce said. “… They felt confident enough to finish through contact, whether it was called or not called.”
While the Purple Eagles struggled to score as a team, Niagara Falls native Amelia Strong kept the team afloat offensively, particularly in the third quarter. The 6-foot-2 sophomore scored 12 of her career-high 20 points — in just 14 minutes — in the frame, including a stretch in which she scored eight of Niagara’s 12 points to take a double-digit lead.
Strong went 8 of 11 from the field and grabbed five rebounds as the Purple Eagles dominated Quinnipiac (13-18) in the paint, 44-26. Strong came into the game averaging 8.2 points, but had scored in double figures just twice in the last 10 regular-season games.
“No one knew I was going to do this,” Strong said. “No one ever thought, because everyone thought I would do the regular same thing I do all the time or do half of it. Today, it was something different that you saw. Definitely the fruits of my labor.”
While Strong had the touch inside, Niagara (19-12) built its lead and offset shooting struggles by creating turnovers. The nation’s leader in steals (15.3 per game), recorded 16 and forced 35 turnovers.
Even though Niagara committed 20 turnovers, it didn’t allow Quinnipiac — which took the Purple Eagles to overtime twice during the regular season — to turn them into points. Niagara had a 31-5 edge in points off turnovers, which helped it go from having a four-point advantage in the paint at halftime to outscoring the Bobcats by 14 in the second half.
“I think we were definitely settling for 3s and we encouraged our shooters to shoot those 3s, but just to work from inside-out,” Niagara guard Ary Hicks said. “We were trying to focus on that.”
Ary Hicks had 14 points and five assists off the bench for Niagara, while Aaliyah Parker had 12 points and two steals in 13 minutes due to foul trouble.
Karson Martin had 15 points to lead Quinnipiac, while Grace LaBarge had 11 points and 11 rebounds.