Photo by Andrew Himmelberg

Natisha Hiedeman’s triple-double was the second in program history.

Before Marquette women’s basketball and Western Illinois tipped off Friday night, Marquette assistant coach Scott Merritt told Natisha Hiedeman if she recorded another double-double (she recorded her first double-double in the Golden Eagles’ last game against Pacific) that he would shave his beard. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game the Golden Eagles had cruised to a 77-61 win and Hiedeman’s stat line read 12 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists. It was Marquette’s second triple-double in program history and the first since 2009.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it, honestly,” Hiedeman said. “They told me that you just need one more (assist). I was just trying to hunt down my teammates more, trying to pass it to them.”

Western Illinois came into Friday’s game averaging 83.7 points per game, the 15th-best mark in the country, but the Golden Eagles were able to hold the Leathernecks to a 29.6 field goal percentage.

“That means a lot to us actually, because our main focus this year has been defense,” Hiedeman said. “We’re trying to contain our people, keep them in front. Get whatever defense that we are doing for the game, if we are switching or whatnot. We are just trying to get everything down on defense. We think that if we do good on defense the offense will come.”

“We have been preaching for the last two days that this team is hard to defend because they set a lot of screens and we got to handle ours and be alert. I think our team did a really good job of that,” Marquette head coach Carolyn Kieger said.

The Golden Eagles were especially effective in defending beyond the arc. Western Illinois shot 43 3-pointers, but Marquette defenders allowed them to only make nine of those shots.

Through the first 3:26 minutes of game there were no points scored. Marquette was able to score the first basket of the contest and go on a 9-2 run from there. The Golden Eagles ended up leading the game wire to wire.

At the halftime, Marquette honored longtime friend of the program Linda Raymonds with a tribute from Shawna Nichols (who is that?) and by presenting her family with a jersey. Raymonds was the daughter of former Marquette coach Hank Raymonds and close friend and mentor to Kieger. She passed away in August from a year-long battle with brain cancer.

“The main thing I know about Linda and being able to be in her life and have her be a mentor to me is that she always paid it forward,” Kieger said. “That was one thing for her. No matter what the cause was, she was always there with open arms and trying to make situations and people better. That is kinda what I said to my team tonight. We are honoring her not only what she did for Marquette, but the person she was. If we can all emulate what she does in terms of paying it forward and the being the person she was, the world would be a better place.”

The Golden Eagles are back in action Tuesday night at the Al McGuire Center against UW-Green Bay at 7:30 p.m.