For the first 10 minutes of Saturday's game against No. 1 Connecticut, the Marquette women's basketball team made its fans think they weren't about to watch another Husky blowout. With 10:28 left in the first half, the score was tied at 20. Then Connecticut put its arsenal on full display with a dominating 36-6 run.
In the end Connecticut won 83-49, a score that for most teams would seem out of the ordinary. For the Huskies, however, it was just another sound victory.
"I think that we come out with a certain energy level…and then over time, if we can maintain that energy level it's going to test the other team," Connecticut sophomore Maya Moore said. "I'd like to think that we play at a consistent energy level the whole time and it's just a matter of time before you look up and you're up by however many."
Entering Saturday's game, Connecticut had won its previous 22 games by an average of 32.7 points. The Huskies' offense averages over 80 points per game, but it was their defense that dominated against Marquette.
The Golden Eagles shot just 21.9 percent from the field, well below their season average of 39.7 percent.
"What happened to us seems to be a pretty routine thing for UConn to do against opponents," coach Terri Mitchell said. "Once they took the lead it became a very slow, hard night for us."
Marquette's top two scorers, Krystal Ellis and Angel Robinson, had an especially rough night as Connecticut made it extremely difficult to attack the basket.
"Defensively we had a team out there that was really able to handle them, I thought our guards did a fantastic job on their two guards," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "Back home the greatest backcourt in Milwaukee history was Laverne and Shirley, but, you know, these two guys are pretty good."
Ellis and Robinson shot a combined 3-of-24 from the field, and Robinson's lone point came with 57 seconds to play. Ellis scored six of her eight points early in the game.
Connecticut trailed on four different occasions, something the top team in the nation had done for a combined 25 minutes and six seconds prior to Saturday night. While Marquette can claim to be one of only a handful of teams to lead against the Huskies this season, that does not change the game's result or how important the remainder of Marquette's schedule will be.
To move forward, a team often goes over film of its games, but Mitchell said the team will not be watching film of Saturday's game.
"The best advice that I can give my team after a game like that is to forget it quickly and move on because we have seven more games, seven extremely important games in the Big East, none bigger than Tuesday night against Villanova," Mitchell said.
Marquette enters Tuesday night's game with an overall record of 13-10 (4-5 Big East). Getting to .500 in the conference will be a key step in assuring the selection committee that Marquette belongs in the NCAA tournament come March.
Villanova, who was picked to finish No. 10 in the Big East preseason coaches' poll, has surprised many with a 7-2 conference record, good for third in the conference.
"We have to have the focus and intensity to be ready for Tuesday night, we can't be limping into that game because of tonight (against Connecticut)," Mitchell said.