What those kind advertisers don't mention is that those wings are temporary.
Marquette came out of the gate Saturday night with plenty of fuel to burn, running Connecticut ragged for the better part of the game's first 10 minutes.,”The great thing about Red Bull is that it gets your blood pumping. It gives you a lot of quick-release energy. As they say in the commercials: it gives you wings.
What those kind advertisers don't mention is that those wings are temporary.
Marquette came out of the gate Saturday night with plenty of fuel to burn, running Connecticut ragged for the better part of the game's first 10 minutes. On defense, the Golden Eagles were clogging the passing lanes and forcing the Huskies into making bad decisions, both in ball-handling and shot selection.
But Connecticut ship captain Geno Auriemma refused to rock the boat. He refused to resort to the sort of aneurism-inducing tantrums that one might expect to see from a coach whose players clearly came out flat.
No, Auriemma remained calm and collected. Most importantly, though, he continued to serve his players that special concoction of Kool-Aid, that mysterious blend of borderline-cocky confidence and unfailing know-how that kept his Huskies from drowning in the raucous sea of gold that was the Al McGuire Center.
In the end, the two team's difference in choice beverage may have been the deciding factor. Connecticut won 52-48 because it remained poised no matter how hard Marquette charged, no matter how close the Golden Eagles came to tying things up, no matter how rowdy the 4,000 predominately Blue & Gold supporters became.
Likewise, Marquette lost the contest because it simply could not run full throttle for an entire 40 minutes. Eventually, the Golden Eagles crashed off their caffeine high and could not find a way to regain it.
"We disappeared for 10 minutes in the first half," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We can't do that against a top-10 team that knows how to win."
Those ten minutes were the last of the first half. The Golden Eagles held an 11-8 lead with just under 11 minutes to go. It would be almost four full minutes before they would score again, and by that time, the Huskies had gone on a 12-0 run.
You could see the Red Bull wearing off. Passes weren't as crisp. Shots were a little flatter. Movement up and down the court was a tad slower.
All the while, Connecticut kept humming along. It didn't hurt that the Huskies brought in two players off their bench that upgraded their lineup.
Connecticut played only seven players the entire first half. Those extra two were Ketia Swanier and Charde Houston, and in case you were wondering, they were drinking Geno's Kool-Aid, too.
Houston chipped in two blocks and three steals, irritating a Marquette offense that shot 29.6 percent from the field in the first half (31.0 percent for the game).
Swanier finished with five assists and ran the Huskies' fast break with a gliding fluidity reminiscent of a Mozart symphony.
The Golden Eagles initiated their fair share of turnovers as well, though their fast break resembled chaotic surge of a Metallica riff.
You could see the unfailing self-assurance in the way the Huskies carried themselves at all times, even as Marquette valiantly fought its way back from an 11-point half time deficit.
These Huskies were never in danger of losing, and they knew it. Man, that must be some powerful Kool-Aid.
"We've had a history of that," Auriemma said of his team's confidence. "In the past, you could attribute that to great players. We would have come out here five years ago with five All-Americans, and they just didn't think that anyone could beat them, so poise was easy for them.
"For this group, it doesn't come as easy. It doesn't come as natural, and it's something that we have to work really, really hard on."
With 26.7 seconds remaining in regulation, Connecticut guard Renee Montgomery missed the front end of a 1-and-1 that kept Marquette within two, trailing 50-48.
Montgomery gave no visible response to her miss, positive or negative. She remained stoic, as if nothing had happened at all.
Christina Quaye missed a three-point attempt on the Golden Eagles' next possession, an unfitting end to a superb night in which the senior forward scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Montgomery rebounded Quaye's miss and was fouled again. This time she sank both free throws and Marquette's hopes of pulling an upset.
No response, positive or negative. Nothing. Just stoic. As if nothing had happened at all. It was as if Montgomery knew all along that her team would come out on top.
Someone pass the Kool-Aid.
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