The Marquette women's basketball team had its first taste of adversity this weekend in the WBCA Classic at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles came back to defeat Gonzaga 80-77 Friday night, and in the next two days blew two large second-half leads to No. 15 Virginia and Utah to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record.

Marquette closed out the game against Gonzaga with a 13-4 run to seal the come-from-behind victory. While the Golden Eagles won the game, they lost a key starter in the post when Jocelyn Mellen tore her ACL. Mellen will miss the remainder of the season.

With Mellen out against Virginia, Marquette's post game struggled. Freshman Georgie Jones and sophomore Paige Fiedorowicz were forced to shoulder much of the load, but combined for only seven points.

"Our guards were playing really well but in the end I think that probably affected us a little bit because we had to rely more on outside shots than getting inside touches," coach Terri Mitchell said. "We have to develop another player to really come off the bench."

Marquette had a 14-point lead with 16:32 remaining against the Cavaliers, but a slew of turnovers down the stretch sealed Marquette's fate.

"I think we just started playing their type of game, up tempo, real fast, instead of doing what we do best," senior guard Krystal Ellis said. "We're an up-tempo team, but we like being in the half court also. We weren't running the plays like we were supposed to."

Ellis contributed 23 points against Virginia while sophomore Angel Robinson led the Golden Eagles with 25. It was a different story for Robinson against Utah on Sunday as she went just 3-of-14 from the floor with just six points.

Marquette was up 50-33 early in the second half, and for the second straight game blew the lead to end up losing 79-76.

"We told our team at halftime that Utah is very good and capable of coming back," Mitchell said. "Obviously, they did not take that to heart. We played with no urgency the second half."

Astoundingly, Marquette had 12 less turnovers than Utah, but Utah's offense was too much for the Golden Eagles. Utah shot 58.7 percent from the floor throughout the game, including 9-of-17 from behind the 3-point line.

"We are not a poor-shooting team. If you look at our two leading scorers, Kalee (Whipple) and Morgan (Warburton), they are both high-percentage shooters but have struggled mightily," Utah coach Elaine Elliot said. "At some point, you return to the mean, and their mean today was better than their average for the season."

Whipple finished the game with 30 points. It was the second time in two days an opposing player racked up at least 30 points against the Golden Eagles. Virginia's Monica Wright scored 31 on Saturday night.

Marquette's overall record now sits at 5-2 with seven games remaining before Big East play begins.

"We're learning two days in a row from a loss," Ellis said. "We can't blow a lead. We're going to come back hungry tomorrow and be ready for Northwestern on Tuesday."