With 1:34 left in the game, coach Terri Mitchell subbed in junior Katie Young for senior Sarina Simmons. As she left the court, she received a standing ovation from the 1,327 fans in attendance. The Marquette Golden Eagles made sure Simmons’ last home game ended as a win, defeating the Cincinnati Bearcats 72-58.
“It’s emotional. It was senior night,” Mitchell said. “Sarina means so much to all of our players. I’m really happy for the performance she had, which was rebounding, scoring, assists. She just did everything across the board.”
Simmons led the team in playing time, putting up 34 minutes while scoring 14 points and bringing down seven rebounds. However, junior Katherine Plouffe stole the show. After only playing nine minutes in the first half due to two personal fouls, Plouffe scored the first six points of the half for the Golden Eagles.
At the 11:49 mark in the second half, Plouffe made a layup, scoring her 1000th career point in a Marquette uniform, becoming the 23rd player to reach the 1,000-point plateau. Plouffe would score 20 points in the second half, shooting 64.3 percent from the field with two free throws, both coming on three-point plays.
“I grabbed her at half time and said, ‘KP we need you’,” Mitchell said. “She just looked at me and said, ‘I got you,’ and I 100 percent knew she was going to step up.”
Plouffe said she had to change her mindset in the second half and it made the difference.
“I just changed my focus,” Plouffe said. “I was attacking the basket and I wasn’t hesitating on my shots.”
Plouffe and Simmons were able to hit double-digit points by exploiting the middle of the Bearcats’ defense. Marquette made sure to take the smart shots from high percentage areas. The Golden Eagles scored 30 of their 72 points from inside the paint and shot 50 percent overall from the field.
Plouffe said the experience of playing the Bearcats once already this season helped the team come out strong.
“We play the game we know we can and we will win,” Plouffe said. “Last game we played (Cincinnati) we didn’t and we dropped it. And we knew that if we played like we know we can, we’d win.”
The Golden Eagles made sure to score early against the Bearcats, jumping out to a 10-5 lead by the first media timeout. Sophomore Arlesia Morse carried the Marquette squad, nailing three three-pointers before the third timeout. Her third three-pointer gave the Golden Eagles a 13-point lead, the biggest lead of the first half.
“I wasn’t expecting to hit that many threes in the first half,” Morse said. “But it’s not because I made the shots; it’s because my teammates got me open to where I was able to make the shots.”
The win for the Golden Eagles extended the team’s winning streak to three games, the biggest for the team in Big East play.
The Golden Eagles got their second win of the streak Saturday against Georgetown in Washington, D.C. The Golden Eagles beat the Hoyas by three points.
Marquette started hot again, jumping out to multiple double-digit leads in the first half, but the Hoyas would surge back in the second, getting as close as a single point. But the Golden Eagles would make their free throws down the stretch.
“When Georgetown made that run at us and we’re in our drought, we never lost focus of the game plan, and we never lost the lead,” Mitchell said. “Because we did those things, we were able to come away with a victory.”
Marquette won’t receive a bye in the Big East Tournament, but the bracket hasn’t been officially released. The Golden Eagles have their sights not only set on a Big East Tournament run, but also on playing postseason basketball in a national tournament.
