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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Marquette Women’s Basketball: Golden Eagles makes easy work of preseason foes

Marquette had its concerns about playing undersized teams heading into its exhibition schedule this past weekend.

In the end, the Golden Eagles’ height overwhelmingly prevailed against their shorter opponents’ who had the potential to be pesky on the defensive end.

Marquette defeated Winona State, 66-44, on Saturday and Wisconsin-Parkside 88-55 last night at the Al McGuire Center. A large factor in the victories was Marquette’s use of the paint; the team held a 42-2 advantage in the paint against Winona State and 56-26 in the Parkside game.

“They have a strength, and then you have to find in your strength what the weakness is,” coach Terri Mitchell said of the two opponents. “Their strength was quickness, running us around. Their weakness is they couldn’t hold us inside. Every time we were going to pound it inside.”

Getting inside will not always be this simple for Marquette, but sophomore guard Arlesia Morse understands the team needs to seize such opportunities.

“We prefer a shot in the paint instead of an outside shot because that’s what Terri emphasizes, getting to the basket and getting to the free throw line,” Morse said. Morse finished with 14 points in 24 minutes on Saturday and 15 points in 25 minutes yesterday.

The Golden Eagles shot 46 percent from the floor against Winona State and 52 percent in the Parkside game while holding their opponents to 28 percent and 36 percent, respectively.

Marquette let Parkside get to within 50-40 after maintaining an early 22-point lead but held the Rangers scoreless for a 7:31 scoring drought to push its lead to 20. Mitchell had a feeling these teams would give Marquette a scare, but it’s a situation the squad must be prepared to endure once regular season play starts.

“Exhibition games give you a lot of areas to focus on,” Mitchell said. “I think there’s nothing like getting out there with officials, feeling the stress of turnovers, rebounds and shooting.”

An area of improvement junior forward Katherine Plouffe saw between Saturday’s game and Monday’s game was the team’s rebounding effort. Marquette grabbed only 33 rebounds against Winona State and had a 51-rebound output last night.

“It was pretty obvious, and that was one of our main focuses coming into this game,” Plouffe said. “We did a good job on it (tonight) and now we’re going to have to prove that we can keep it up against better teams and bigger teams.”

Marquette outscored Winona State 9-7 on second-chance opportunities and outscored UW-Parkside 19-4. Plouffe finished with 24 points and four rebounds Saturday and 24 points and nine rebounds yesterday, leading the team in scoring in both contests.

Ball movement was a plus for the Golden Eagles this weekend, especially Monday night. Marquette tallied 28 assists on 36 field goals. That was in large part because all available players saw action on the floor and allowed for many players to gel with one another. Mitchell is still trying to determine the rotation, but these two games helped give her an idea of which players have positive chemistry with one another.

“My big thing is to figure out the rotation,” Mitchell said. “Exhibition gives you the opportunity to try different lineups. Are we going to have it all figured out on Saturday? No. Are we going to be a step closer because of exhibition? Yes.”

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