Senior guards Natisha Hiedeman and Allazia Blockton led the top-seeded Marquette women’s basketball team to a 75-52 victory over the fourth-seeded Georgetown Hoyas in the BIG EAST semifinals Monday afternoon.
Monday’s win advances Marquette to the BIG EAST championship game for the third straight year.
“We’re super excited,” Hiedeman said. “We’ve been working for this for the whole season.”
The Golden Eagles now have 26 wins on the season, which ties a program record previously set in 2006-’07.
“We continue to grow every day,” Hiedeman said. “We’re mature, we know who the hot hand (on the team) is and we try to get them the ball. If we get punched, we’re mature enough to not fold but to punch back.”
Marquette made six 3-pointers in the first quarter alone and ended the quarter on a 13-0 run. The Golden Eagles made that a 20-0 run in the second quarter and had a 16-point lead in the quarter.
However, a late push brought the Hoyas within six points of MU before halftime.
After starting the second half going 3 for 10, Marquette stormed back with a 15-0 run to close out the third quarter.
Georgetown pulled back within 10 points in the fourth quarter, but the Golden Eagles did enough to secure the 13-point win.
“Our communication is at an all-time best right now,” head coach Carolyn Kieger said. “We’re playing our personnel really well, and I think there is just a different level of intensity when it comes to game-planning right now.”
Marquette made 12 3-pointers Monday afternoon, which is the most the Golden Eagles have hit in a BIG EAST Tournament game. The team shot 39 percent from the field.
“We were moving the ball really well, which was making a lot of our threes non-contested, wide-open threes,” Hiedeman said.
Blockton and Hiedeman both led the Golden Eagles with 23 points. This was the fifth time Hiedeman scored 20 or more points this season and the seventh time for Blockton.
“This is their time,” Kieger said. “This is when you want your seniors to step up, enjoy themselves and enjoy each other.”
Redshirt senior Dorothy Adomako led the way for the Hoyas with 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting. Georgetown shot 24-for-60 from the field and 7-for-22 from behind the 3-point line.
Marquette had a 43-33 advantage in rebounding.
“Switching to our zone was huge,” Kieger said. “It’s been something we’ve been working on but hasn’t really shown in games. I was just really proud of them to do it (today) on the fly because it’s something we really haven’t done this season.”
Marquette will take on either No. 6 Creighton or No. 2 DePaul Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Central Time at Wintrust Arena. MU will look to be the first No. 1 seed to win the BIG EAST tournament since 2014.
“We’re going to give it our best effort no matter who we play,” Hiedeman said.
“The only thing we’re thinking about for tomorrow is one possession at a time,” Kieger said.
