Following two rough road losses, the Marquette women’s basketball team needed to refocus and that is exactly what they did with a 103-60 victory over Seton Hall Friday morning.
“We talked all week about we got to grow. We got to grow as a team. We got to get to the point where we can have maximum effort for 40 minutes,” head coach Carolyn Kieger said. “I told them all night that I wasn’t worried about the score. Anytime I asked them they were supposed to say it was tied. And that is how we got to play for the remainder of the year. We share the ball like that, we make the right pass and we make the right shot we are really tough.”
The Golden Eagles came out in a zone defense, completely shutting down the Seton Hall offense. Marquette forced 16 turnovers and scored 20 points off of those turnovers. In addition, Marquette snagged 27 defensive rebounds, which helped them establish their transition game and score 38 points on the fast break.
“I just think we were communicating at a efficient rate and we haven’t been doing that. We have been playing to personnel, which was great,” Kieger said about Marquette’s defense. “I’m really proud of our focus that hadn’t happened in prior games.”
Marquette opened the game on 8-0 run and ended the quarter up 25-9. Danielle King consistently got open on the weak side and cut to the basket, helping her score eight points in the first quarter.
The scoring spree continued in the second quarter. Marquette went into halftime up 55-26. The 29-point led was due to the Golden Eagles shooting an astonishing 69-percent in the half. Isabelle Spingola, who was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc aided Marquette’s shooting. Spingola finished the game going 5-for-6 from three and lead the team with 21 points in just 18 minutes of action.
“Just cutting and getting open and obviously the guards they were setting me up really well,” Spingola said about the key to getting open looks. “I have just been working on my shot a lot, so I’m just happy it is falling.”
Seton Hall didn’t fare much better in the second half. Marquette continued to apply the pressure and finished the third quarter up 84-43. The Golden Eagles scored 19 points in the fourth quarter, which was their lowest total of the day, but the damage was already done.
Marquette will welcome St. John’s to the Al McGuire Center Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
