It’s not quite deja vu, but it’s as close as it gets.
The Marquette women’s basketball team dropped another close road game in the Big East, this time falling to Syracuse, 69-60.
The team has been seeing eerily similar results most of the season and time is running out for the Golden Eagles. On Feb. 6, Syracuse rallied to a second half win. On Jan. 31, a 10-0 run to start second half lifted DePaul over Marquette. On Jan. 23, Rutger’s late surge defeated Marquette.
Those were the headlines for Marquette’s last three losses, and the storyline doesn’t change very much. The Golden Eagles jump out to an early lead, keep the score close, then fall late in the second half.
This weekend, Marquette forced Syracuse (18-5, 5-5 Big East) into 17 first half turnovers and scored 18 points of those turnovers to take a five point lead into the half. As has been the case on the road in the Big East, however, Marquette could not maintain the intensity.
“We knew Syracuse prides itself in being a second half team, and not all five of us on the court had that mindset,” junior guard Angel Robinson said. “We had to come out hard because they were going to come out hard. They are a second-half team and they pull games out in the second half. Not all of us being on the same page hurt us.”
Syracuse did a much better job handling the ball in the second half as Marquette’s defense forced only five turnovers.
“I thought Syracuse did a much better job of taking care of the ball,” coach Terri Mitchell said. “Obviously, their turnovers in the first half helped us get out in transition, so when they limited their turnovers, it gave us less chances in transition looks.”
Besides turnovers, rebounding was a critical area where Robinson felt Marquette was lacking in the second half.
“We focused on it all week because we know Syracuse is a great rebounding team,” Robinson said. “We just have to buy in and do it. That was the game right there. Rebounding. The coaches kept telling us to rebound and we didn’t do it.”
The loss drops Marquette (13-9, 4-5 Big East) to ninth in the Big East and makes the road to the NCAA tournament much more difficult now having dropped three straight road games, all to teams on the bubble.
The Golden Eagles look to rebound against another bubble opponent, South Florida (13-9, 4-5 Big East), tonight at the Al McGuire Center.
Marquette has been outstanding at home, going 9-2 this season. The last time the Golden Eagles took the court at home, they defeated then No. 17 Georgetown, giving the Hoyas their one and only conference loss to this point.
South Florida is not a particularly good road squad with a 4-5 record away from home, and only one of those road wins coming in conference play.
Senior Jessica Lawson will be the one to watch for the Bulls. The 6-foot-3 center is averaging 15 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this season.
In her last game, Lawson dropped 33 points and 10 rebounds in the Bulls’ loss to Rutgers. Marquette sophomore Jessica Pachko will have her hands full down low trying to contain Lawson, but she is more than up to the challenge.
“We’ve been playing our zone defense better than we ever have, and it’s really doing great things for us,” Pachko said. “Our zone that we’re known for has really been working for us.”
