After coming back from a successful west coast road trip, Marquette women’s basketball suffered their first loss at the Al McGuire Center 78-63 to Green Bay Tuesday night.
Marquette entered the game with the 23rd best offense in the country, but the Phoenix defense was able to contain the usual high-octane Golden Eagles.
“They play a gap style defense and they are very good at it and they do collapse all four people onto the ball,” Marquette head coach Carolyn Kieger said. “We didn’t hit enough threes tonight and to be honest we didn’t find our shooters well enough. We got to drive with the intent to kick and move the ball and have more ball movement and time per touch. Look at Klay Thompson last night. He touched the ball what, a minute and half all game, so we got to get more like a basketball team not just one-on-one individuals.”
Green Bay did a good job of controlling the ball and making sure their mistakes weren’t costly. Jessica Lindstrom led the Phoenix offensively with 24 points, going 5 for 6 from beyond the arc.
Just 2:32 into the game Kieger was forced to call a timeout, as Marquette found themselves down 11-3.
“I think that is part of our maturity that we got to grow up. We got to be able to take a punch and fight back,” Kieger said. “I think after that first quarter we kind of got in a daze. You erase that and I think it would be a different ball game, but unfortunately you don’t get to rewind time. You got to start the game like you want to finish it.”
Making matters more complicated for the Golden Eagles was that Allazia Blockton and Erika Davenport were in foul trouble for most of the second half. Davenport eventually fouled out in the fourth.
Marquette would have chances to get back in the game. Its best opportunity was in the beginning of the third quarter when the Golden Eagles shrunk what was at one point a 16-point deficit to just a nine points. Green Bay would grow their lead back up to 14, but by the time the quarter ended Natisha Hiedeman, who finished with a team-high 17 points, helped cut Green Bay’s lead back down to ten.
The fourth quarter began with the Phoenix up 60-50 and any hope of a Marquette comeback was quickly dashed when the Phoenix went on a 13-2 run to give themselves a 19-point lead.
“That was kind of on us. Obviously, they are a great scoring team, but we just weren’t mentally focused,” Hiedman said. “If we cut the lead someone on the court has to be saying something like ‘Hey we are right here, we just need to stop and score.’ Stop scoring, we would have been right back in that game.”
Marquette faces another Wisconsin foe by welcoming the Badgers to the Al McGuire Center on Sunday at 1 p.m.
