Marquette basketball, both men’s and women’s, has a bad habit of looking up to opposing teams. It’s not that they admire the other team, it’s just that opponents are almost always taller than the Golden Eagles and Marquette literally has to look up to look them in the eye.
The height difference did the Marquette women’s basketball team (14-12, 5-8 Big East) in this weekend as they could not overcome DePaul’s height advantage, falling 72-63 on Saturday.“That’s every game for us,” coach Terri Mitchell said. “Every team has height on us, every team has length.”
Sophomore forward Jessica Pachko was neutralized by DePaul’s 6-foot-3 freshman forward, Katherine Harry, and 6-foot-3 junior forward Felicia Chester, scoring only seven points and grabbing three rebounds, four less than her season average. Pachko only played nine minutes in the second half after getting in foul trouble against the Blue Demons (17-10, 6-7 Big East).
Marquette’s other post players didn’t fare much better. Freshman forward Sarina Simmons and junior forward Jocelyn Mellen combined for nine points and only six rebounds.
“I think that’s always our game plan to go inside/outside, because that’s when we’re always at our best,” Pachko said after the Golden Eagles’ last victory against South Florida.
That wasn’t the case in this game. As a team, DePaul outscored Marquette 34-24 in the paint. The DePaul dominance on the inside helped overcome the Blue Demons’ three-point shooting woes. DePaul shot just 25 percent (5-20) from the 3-point stripe.
“They got a lot of paint scores on us,” Mitchell said. “We switched to zone down the stretch and took care of the paint, but they hit two threes back-to-back in that stretch.”
The height advantage was not simply down low in the blocks, either. Marquette’s guards were also at a disadvantage. They had a tough time finishing drives to the bucket. Although DePaul only recorded three blocks, many more shots were either altered or not taken.
Junior Angel Robinson had a particularly tough time against DePaul sophomore Keisha Hampton. The 6-foot-2 forward guarded Robinson for a large portion of the game and gave her trouble. Hampton was quick enough to keep up with Robinson, and the four inches she had on the Golden Eagle guard made it difficult to shoot over her.
During a possession in the second half, Robinson was able to get around Hampton initially but facing a forest of tall defenders, pulled up for a jump shot. But Hampton had caught up and put a hand up, forcing Robinson to alter her shot and ultimately miss.
DePaul’s length also made it difficult for the other Marquette guards. The passing lanes were often blocked, making it difficult to move the ball. Of Marquette’s 21 turnovers, 15 were committed by the guards.
“You can’t let one turnover affect you the rest of the game,” junior Paige Fiedorowicz said. “You have to talk to your team and let them know they got the next one. You can’t get frustrated because that’s just going to bring the momentum down.”
Height and length don’t always win games, but they sure make life a lot easier.
