So when the Golden Eagles trailed 50-48 and the final ticks were winding down, Mitchell had all the reason to believe in senior forward Christina Quaye as she took the potential game-changing three-pointer.,”Marquette women's basketball coach Terri Mitchell has watched thousands of shots drop at the Al McGuire Center.

So when the Golden Eagles trailed 50-48 and the final ticks were winding down, Mitchell had all the reason to believe in senior forward Christina Quaye as she took the potential game-changing three-pointer.

The shot, to the dismay of Mitchell and many other Marquette fans, came up empty.

In what was billed as Marquette's toughest game to date, the No. 16 Golden Eagles fell to No. 6 Connecticut 52-48 before a sold-out crowd of 4,000 Saturday night. The sellout was the first in program history.

"I believe in Christina," Mitchell said. "I believe in her decision making."

Quaye thought it was the right shot to take, but it was to no avail.

"I thought it was an open look," Quaye said.

Said Mitchell: "She thought she had a good look. I'm never going to hesitate with a senior."

Down 50-43, Quaye nailed a three with 2:30 left. She then buried a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two in the game's final minute.

The Golden Eagles began to foul with impunity, and Renee Montgomery missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw. But Montgomery was able to redeem herself after Quaye came up empty by sinking both her bonus free throws with 11.1 seconds left.

"I don't know if you can keep putting yourself in this type of position where you can pull out by two or three points every time," Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. "Not in this conference."

Overall, Quaye filled up her statistical line in the box score quite nicely. She led the Golden Eagles with 20 points and had nine rebounds and three steals. Sophomore guard Krystal Ellis added 10 points.

UConn (20-2, 10-0 Big East) came out of the chute throwing passes into the teeth of the Golden Ealges' interior defense, which resulted in five turnovers in the opening six minutes. That allowed Marquette (7-3, 19-4) to hike its lead to 7-2.

The rest of the half, however, wasn't exactly what the Golden Eagles drew up.

The Huskies were able to overcome its gaffes on offense and tie the game with 10:01 left in the first half on a three pointer by Mel Thomas.

Within minutes, the Huskies would go on an 11-0 run and the lead swelled to 20-11 on a basket by freshman center Tina Charles. As a result, the Huskies lead, 31-20, at halftime while scoring 22 points in the paint.

"We disappeared for 10 minutes in the first half," Mitchell said. "You can't disappear for 10 minutes in the minutes in the first half. The second half was the Marquette team I know and love. We were attacking."

Marquette outscored the Huskies, 28-21, in the second half.

"I don't know if we did anything special except play with a lot of heart," Mitchell said.

Charles supplied a double-double for the Huskies: 20 points, 14 rebounds.

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