Marquette (4-3) eased past its in-state rival Wisconsin 88-65 at the Al McGuire Center Monday night. Here are the three things to take away from the win:
Hiedeman forcing turnovers
The 1,691 fans in attendance Monday night at the Al McGuire Center certainly witnessed the Natisha Hiedeman show. The junior guard only played 25 minutes but led the team in scoring with 26 points, including 19 first-half points and grabbing four steals.
“I was trying to give my maximum effort,” Hiedeman said. “That’s really what we’ve been talking about a lot is maximum effort, so just playing hard the whole time.”
“We’ve been working all year about making her an outside-inside threat and attacking off the dribble,” head coach Carolyn Kieger said. “When she attacks the basket that hard and she’s shooting her three, she’s pretty hard to guard, pretty unstoppable.”
Blockton’s high shooting percentage
Junior guard Allazia Blockton had a successful night, shooting 8-for-12 including 2-for-3 shooting from behind the arc. In the past, Blockton had trouble because her team was not creating opportunities for her to shoot, but this season, the opposite has been true.
“I know a team’s going to hone in on me offensively because I’m such an offensive threat,” Blockton said. “I just try my best to play inside-out, get my teammates involved and then they get me involved too.”
Marquette’s leading scorer also is ranked No. 5 in the BIG EAST in scoring.
Defensive focus
Kieger said at media day that this year’s focus is defensive aggressiveness. Marquette executed that against Wisconsin.
“Ball pressure, that’s when we’re picking up the ball as quickly as we can and we want it picked up before half-court,” Kieger said. “If we can get into the passers and distract vision, then it’s hard for them to find their scores and their shooters.”
The Badgers missed all eight 3-point attempts, struggling to withstand Marquette’s pressure defense. Each time a Badger took a 3, at least one Golden Eagle would creep up and divert attention away from the basket, forcing an off-line shot.
Next up
The Golden Eagles are back on the road, where they will face No. 22 Michigan Thursday at 6 p.m.
Most points: Natisha Hiedeman (26)
Most rebounds: Allazia Blockton (8)
Most assists: Amani Wilborn (8)
