Close but no cigar

The women's basketball team struggled mightily to close out what had been a strong first-half performance, and No. 5 Connecticut made it pay. The Huskies defeated the Golden Eagles 52-48 Saturday night in front of a sold-out Al McGuire Center crowd. After taking an early lead and forcing Connecticut into numerous turnovers, Marquette went scoreless for almost four minutes midway through the first half. By the time the Golden Eagles scored again, the Huskies had gone on a 12-0 run. Led by senior forward Christina Quaye (20 points, nine rebounds), Marquette made a second-half run to keep the game close. In the end, the Golden Eagles could not slow down Connecticut forward Tina Charles, who recorded 20 points and 14 rebounds.

We're going streaking

The men's basketball team has won seven Big East games in a row. Seven. The league is down this year, sure. But seven wins are seven wins.

The Golden Eagles' latest win came Saturday against Providence, as sophomore Jerel McNeal had game highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds in a 69-62 victory.

Junior Dan Fitzgerald flat-out stepped it up with 14 points off the bench.

Best of all, Marquette didn't lose on the same day the university retired Dwyane Wade's No. 3, because that really would have been a bummer.

Tennis roundup

The women's tennis team was swept in both matches over the weekend, losing 7-0 at home to Western Michigan Friday and 7-0 at Indiana Sunday. Marquette will try to recover from its 1-5 start when it takes on Ohio State Friday in Columbus, but the Buckeyes so far have swept all three of their matches.

The men's tennis team split a pair of weekend matches, losing 6-1 at Indiana Saturday and defeating Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis 6-1 on the road Sunday. Marquette (2-2) hosts DePaul (4-2) this Saturday.