Taylor Herd

Classroom

Herd posted a 3.93 GPA through her first three academic years and is a member of the Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honors Society.

She is a two-time member of the MAAC All-Academic Team and made the Dean’s List twice in her career.

Herd completed a summer internship in Los Angeles with the LA Sparks of the WNBA. Her main responsibilities were to pitch the Sparks president to speaker’s boroughs with the goal of procuring public speaking opportunities and engagements, including the SXSW Conference.

Herd also produced two published pieces, both player profiles, that were featured in the team’s gameday magazine. She also earned the opportunity to learn from members of the Sparks broadcast team and plans to pursue a sports communications career.

Character

For the past three seasons, Herd has dealt with tremendous personal adversity after her father suffered a silent heart attack in 2017. After receiving an artificial heart, he has been in and out of multiple hospitals and most recently was medevaced to a national hospital in Florida.

Due to ongoing complications, her father has been unable to travel to games since the end of her freshman year. Additionally, while playing and studying at Quinnipiac, Herd has taken extra responsibilities at home, including moving her younger brother into college while her mom was at the hospital with her dad.

Herd has dealt with the uncertainties of her father’s heart transfer process and being over three hours away from home and has had to learn to balance those concerns with the normal responsibilities of a student-athlete.

Herd credits the team atmosphere and the success that the team has achieved in recent years as a distraction and welcomed positive influence that has balanced everything happening away from school and basketball.

Community

Herd has been a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for three years and is currently the Athletic Senator for the Student Government Association. She assisted in the planning and development of Boomer’s Boo Bash, a free community event geared towards local families and hosted by QU SAAC.

Herd is primarily responsible for taking the lead on multiple initiatives including pre-registration and accommodated housing for all student-athletes.

Herd played a primary role in her team’s community service initiatives, including a pen pal program and a student mentor program with multiple local schools. Herd has traveled with teammates to many community schools to read and interact with local children.

Herd also worked as a camp counselor at the Tricia Fabbri Quinnipiac Women’s Basketball Camp for the last four years.

Competition

Herd, the reigning MAAC Women’s Basketball Sixth Player of the Year, had the best statistical season of her career last year. She posted new career bests in field goals (90), field goal percentage (.359), three-point field goals (56), defensive rebounds (86), total rebounds (106), rebounds per game (3.2), assists (35), points (258) and points per game (7.8).

She is a three-time MAAC Tournament Champion and has been a part of three NCAA Tournament victories and a Sweet 16 appearance. Over the past three seasons, Herd’s squad has won 52-straight conference games, which is the 10th-longest such streak in women’s basketball history.

Overall, Herd has played a role in 83 wins over the last three years and the team has an 83-20 total record in that time span.