The Villanova women's snail-like offense was putting the entire Al McGuire Center to sleep Tuesday night. A furious Marquette rally woke them up, but it was not enough for the Golden Eagles, as they fell to the Wildcats, 46-45.

"I give our team a lot of credit for fighting and not giving up," Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said. "But on the flip side of that, if we would have played with that kind of energy the entire game we wouldn't have been in that situation."

Down 13 points with six minutes to go, Marquette took advantage of turnovers and a stalling Villanova offense to pull all the way back within one on a Jessica Pachko lay-up with about a minute left. After a Laura Kurz (17 points) turnover with three seconds to go, Angel Robinson (14 points, four assists) took the ball near mid-court after a timeout and drove past one Villanova defender, but her pull-up jumper was contested by another and the shot hit nothing but air. Villanova (16-8, 8-2) held on for its sixth-straight Big East win, while a reeling Marquette (13-11, 4-6) has now lost four out of its last five.

Pachko led the Golden Eagles with 16 points and seven rebounds and had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with four seconds left. She missed the first, however, and failed in her attempt to miss the second as the ball banked in on a line drive heave.

"I was trying to bounce it hard off the back, so I could give Georgie (Jones) and Marissa (Thrower) an opportunity to get it, but it didn't end up working out," Pachko said.

The Golden Eagles poor play continues a season-long trend in which the team has really struggled when the starting backcourt of Krystal Ellis and Angel Robinson haven't contributed much offensively.

With both coming off superb seasons last year, it was no surprise that the two were going to be relied upon to contribute most of the scoring. So when Ellis struggled out of the gate due to various injuries, Robinson and a talented crop of returnees and freshmen were expected to carry the Golden Eagles past the setback.

So far, the expectations have not come to fruition.

Aside from freshman Jessica Pachko, who has become a steady contributor as a starting forward, Mitchell has not been able to find consistent play to help out her backcourt duo. Janelle Harris and Lauren Thomas-Johnson both earned starting spots earlier this season but have not added much to an offense that ranks just ninth in the Big East. Guards Tatiyiana McMorris and Erin Monfre have both struggled to find a rhythm due to inconsistent playing time.

Despite all this, Robinson said the team does not doubt its identity.

"We know what team we are," she said. "We're just really up and down right now. Every game we got to come and play together, and when we do that we get good shots and defensive stops. We've just got to get on the court and do it."

With the struggles of the bench and the poor play of Ellis, the reason for the team's recent downslide is clear. Ellis scored just three points on 1-for-9 shooting Tuesday night, and the Marquette all-time leading scorer wasn't even on the court during the tense final stretch.

"I didn't think Krystal was playing her best basketball," Mitchell said. "It just wasn't her game. In the first half she had good minutes and the second I didn't think as well. At this point in the year, whoever's playing well is going to be in."