Winning on the road in conference play is never easy, no matter who the opposing team happens to be.
Two days after defeating Southern Miss 71-58 in Hattiesburg, Miss., the women's basketball team traveled to New Orleans and faced Tulane, a team that came into Sunday's game with a 0-5 Conference USA record.
The Green Wave scored early and often en route to a decisive 74-54 decision over Marquette.
"We started so poorly, we just never got out of it," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We were a step slow the whole game."
The Golden Eagles have defined themselves by their defense all year but Marquette allowed an uncharacteristically high shooting percentage to Tulane. The Green Wave connected on 48.2 percent of their shots for the game.
They were paced by the hot shooting of junior guard D'Aundra Henry who led her team with 22 points, including 12 off of three-pointers.
Henry played a large role in burying the Golden Eagles early. Two of her three-pointers helped Tulane jump out to an 11-0 advantage to start the game.
Marquette did not have an answer to Tulane's offensive output. Senior guard Lesley Juedes, the Golden Eagles streaky outside shooter, was unable to connect on any of her seven three-point attempts.
No one else was able to do much better. The Golden Eagles shot a miserable 4-for-23 from long range for the game.
Only two Golden Eagles scored in double digits for the game, sophomore forward Danielle Kamm with 12 and sophomore center Christina Quaye with 11.
Mitchell insisted that looking past Tulane was not the problem but instead consecutive road games against C-USA opponents.
"We definitely didn't take them lightly," Mitchell said. "Having two road games back to back, though, we found the team with little focus."
Junior guard Carolyn Kieger agreed with her coaches assessment.
"Our coaches did a good job of letting everyone know they (Tulane) were good," Kieger said. "We as a team didn't come out with the intensity we needed."
Marquette slightly out-rebounded Tulane, 35 to 33, but their 20 turnovers made it difficult to gain any ground, especially after the Green Wave jumped out to the early lead.
Mitchell stated that no one, least of all the players, is taking the loss lightly.
"Our players care," Mitchell said. "They know that game was a step backward. No one is more bothered than they are."
The Golden Eagles played completely opposite against Southern Miss Friday.
They limited their turnovers to 16 and forced Southern Miss into 23 of their own.
Marquette focused on getting the ball inside to Quaye, who responded with one of her best performances of the year, scoring 20 points and grabbing six rebounds.
"Christina is so strong. She wears her opponent down," assistant coach Michelle Nason said. "Southern Miss is a young team and they just didn't have an answer for her. She's a gamer, and it's great to have someone like that on the team that is so consistent."
Three other players reached double figures in scoring, Kamm put in 16, Kieger had 11, and Juedes scored 10 to round out the balanced Golden Eagle attack.
Kieger, a junior guard, played an impressive all-around game. Despite only shooting 3-for-10, she stole the ball seven times and dished off seven assists."I was just getting after their point guard," Kieger said about the steals. "And I got some good traps from my teammates."
"Kieger brings so much more to us than just scoring," Nason said. "She's a gym-rat type kid that knows the game."
As opposed to their performance against Tulane, Mitchell felt that they played well on the road and under pressure in Southern Miss.
"We were the team we wanted to be," she said.
Marquette returns to action at home Friday against South Florida at 7 p.m.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 25 2005.