Krystal Ellis made the Al McGuire Center her personal stage Monday night, helping spark a crucial 12-point Marquette run en route to the Golden Eagles' 67-63 victory over intra-state rival Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Down 49-40 in the second half, Ellis single-handedly took over for Marquette, reeling off 10 consecutive points in a span of just over four minutes. Reserve forward Efueko Osagie-Landry capped off the run with a pair of free throws to give Marquette a 52-49 advantage with seven minutes left.
The Golden Eagles would never relinquish their lead.
"I was taking shots that I thought I needed to take, and that I thought would help my team out," Ellis said.
Ellis entered the game averaging a team-high 16.5 points per game. The 5-foot-9 sophomore guard led the Golden Eagles with 18 points.
"Every game that Krystal plays, she grows in maturity," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We really don't ever go into a game saying who needs to score. But obviously since she was hitting them, we were looking for her more."
Christina Quaye chipped in 12 points and Svetlana Kovalenko and Osagie-Landry added eight points each for the Golden Eagles. UW-Green Bay's Natalie Berglin led all scorers with 21 points and played an exhausting 36 of 40 minutes.
Marquette did a good job of locking down Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Nicole Soulis, who entered averaging 20.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Soulis concluded her night with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
A big reason why Soulis was contained can be credited to Mitchell's decision to switch to a zone defense in the second half.
Marquette held a 38-32 lead at halftime, but players were too often getting caught in screens. The Phoenix cut and screened along the perimeter all night long, finishing 9 of 28 from three-point range.
The change in the defensive scheme allowed Marquette's offense to run its course, and the Golden Eagles closed the game on a 27-14 run.
"We went to a zone and that's when they went on their drought," Mitchell said. "I think it gave us more confidence."
"They went to that zone, and I'm just not very smart," UW-Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth said. "You can't just do the same thing against the zone every time. Everywhere we went, they had somebody standing there. That's what hurt us."
Marquette got a spark from its bench: Four reserves combined for 21 points.
The Phoenix, which returned all five starters from a season ago, didn't make their first substitution until almost nine minutes had passed. They had only eight bench points.
"The tempo is what we needed to change," Mitchell said. "The things we talked about in the timeout were, 'Just get it and go and just try to make something quick.' "