Coming off a frustrating 27 turnovers in Tuesday’s win at Seton Hall, Marquette’s women’s basketball team knew it needed to cure its efficiency woes.
A nine-turnover showing at Pittsburgh Saturday was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Freshman center Lauren Tibbs scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed five rebounds as the Golden Eagles defeated the Panthers, 74-65. Junior forward Katherine Plouffe nearly notched a triple-double (13 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) and sophomore center Chelsie Butler tallied 10 points.
“We fought so hard in this game,” coach Terri Mitchell told GoMarquette.com. “This was an incredibly physical game, and it’s always tough to win on the road.
“We talked about out-rebounding; we out-rebounded. We talked about low turnovers; we had low turnovers.”
The nine turnovers were a season best for the Golden Eagles, who improved to 2-2 in the Big East. Assistant coach Tyler Summitt was also impressed by the team’s composure and its prevention of unforced errors throughout the game.
“When it comes to taking care of the ball, it’s all about the details,” Summitt said. “The nine turnovers were a big step forward, and hopefully we can continue to decrease our turnovers.”
Plouffe was pleased with how the team drastically lessened its turnover count in such a small time frame.
“We definitely worked on taking care of the ball (in) the practices following Seton Hall,” Plouffe said. “Just being available for each other, working the ball around and saving those loose balls really helped cut down our turnovers.”
Marquette shot 46 percent from the field for the game, including 49 percent in the first half. Pitt, which dropped to 0-4 in the Big East, struggled tremendously from the foul line, shooting just 8-20 (40 percent). The Golden Eagles held a significant edge in second-chance points, outscoring Pitt 23-10 and collecting 19 offensive rebounds.
The Golden Eagles took the lead early in the game and kept it for the rest of the game. After letting a 13-point lead drop to one with 3:50 left, Marquette went on a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach for Pitt. The Golden Eagles held the Panthers scoreless until a buzzer-beating jumper by Brianna Kiesel ended the drought. Kiesel led all scorers with 18 points.
“I think (we) showed a toughness at the end of the game when it was on the line,” Summitt said. “You’ve got two options there: you can fold, or you can push through. We really had that toughness to give the effort on defense.”
Plouffe praised the team for making shots when it needed to and getting stops when Pitt had chances to surge ahead.
“I think there were definitely a few times where we definitely could have dropped the ball and let them take the lead, but we held our ground and kept our lead,” Plouffe said. “That’s been one of our focuses – to pull away on our leads and not let them come back.”
With No. 13 Louisville (3-2 Big East) in town for tonight’s game, Marquette will be challenged on both ends of the floor. However, since it is riding this two-game winning streak, there is no need to make any alterations to its playing style, Summitt said.
“With the last few games, we didn’t do anything special,” Summitt said. “For Louisville, we’re not going to change anything. The players are starting to see that once you buy into a system and all five people (are) working together, then good things can happen.”
