The Marquette women's basketball team discovered a winning combination this weekend.
Start with a lot of points early, mix with not giving the opposition any hope of getting back into the game and add a whole lot of Christina Quaye, and a victory at the Al McGuire Center is the final result.
Quaye, the team's standout sophomore center, seemed to score at will, and disheartened the opposition in both games.
She scored the first six points for Marquette in its 67-41 victory over South Florida Friday and finished with a game-high 20. Then, Sunday, she scored the first 10 points of the game for Marquette en route to its 65-48 win against Alabama-Birmingham, in which she ended up with 21.
So dominant was her play that only three players had scored for the Golden Eagles when they took a 28-19 lead into halftime.
Quaye had 17, senior guard Lesley Juedes scored nine and junior guard Carolyn Kieger put in two.
"Although only three players scored in the first half, we didn't really need anyone else to," Mitchell said.
In the second half, UAB made sure they had two bodies on Quaye at all times, but the Golden Eagles were able to find other scorers.
Notably, Kieger and Juedes started to connect from behind the arc.
Marquette looked like a different team for the first seven and a half minutes of the second half, managing only two baskets. UAB cut the lead down to seven with 12:47 to go.
The next time the Golden Eagles got an open look, Juedes connected from deep to make it 35-25. After the teams traded inside baskets, Kieger took a pass from junior forward Efueko Osagie and made her first three-pointer for the game.
UAB responded with a made basket by sophomore guard Crystal McFadden, but Kieger got open again on the outside and calmly drilled another three to put the Golden Eagles up, 43-29.
The Blazers never recovered from the barrage and faded down the stretch.
UAB was paced in scoring by McFadden, who finished with 17 points on 7-for-14 from the field, but none of her teammates managed to reach double figures for the game.
Kieger was pleased with their ability to finally take control of the game and limit UAB's opportunities.
"That was one of our preseason goals," Kieger said. "Basketball is a game of runs and we try to weather those runs. Thankfully, we've been successful so far."
Sunday's win was similar to Marquette's convincing victory over South Florida Friday.
Coming off an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Tulane, Mitchell knew the importance of coming out and making a statement.
"We needed to bounce back after a difficult loss," Mitchell said. "We had a lot of respect for them."
South Florida was unable to make a game of it in the second half after falling behind 32-24 at the break.
Mitchell praised her team's defensive prowess and credited it for not allowing South Florida back into the game.
"When you're up on a team you can't give them any hope," Mitchell said.
"We held them to 17 points in the second half."
The Golden Eagles' dominance in the paint was undeniable.
They scored 48 of their 67 points there and limited South Florida to only six.
As is becoming the norm, Quaye, who shot 9-for-11 from the field, led the attack inside.
"I give credit to my guards," Quaye said. "They looked for me and got the ball in."
Reserve freshman forward Svetlana Kovalenko found it easy to score inside. She made all four of her shots and scored eight points.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 1 2005.