Christmas arrived four days early for Marquette women’s basketball, receiving a come-from-behind 53-51 victory over Belmont Saturday afternoon.
“Really proud to get the win. Did just enough down the stretch. (We) did enough defensively creating that pressure on Belmont’s offense,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “Really thrilled to get the win heading into conference play.”
Down five late in the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles relied upon their lockdown defense. A 7-0 run to end the game allowed MU to come out with the win.
“(We) executed very well offensively in transition, making timely baskets and keeping that balance,” Duffy said. “(We) went to some plays we were confident in. Altia Anderson had a big offensive rebound that gave us an extra possession.”
The fourth-quarter offensive performance for the Golden Eagles capped off a 32-point second half.
For the second straight game, Marquette found themselves struggling to sustain a lead in the first quarter. Belmont’s offense took over on a 12-3 run that resulted in MU being down 16-12 heading into the second.
“They forced us to take a lot of outside shots,” Duffy said. “We missed a lot of easy shots.”
Marquette found themselves down 28-20 at halftime and shot 21% from the field and 22% from beyond the arc. It was the fewest points MU has scored in the first half since Nov. 14 against Northwestern when it scored 17.
The third quarter saw a much different Marquette team. The Golden Eagles shot 39% from the field finding themselves tied at 36-36 heading into the final quarter.
The Golden Eagles’ big second-half performance was inspired by what Duffy said to the team at halftime.
“It was about getting back to our fundamentals, getting back to what we worked on two days ago when we started the scout for Belmont,” Duffy said. “(I) talked about getting back to the basic principles of defense, ways to get easier shots. (I) said to them, ‘Hey, this is your green light to create and make shots.’”
Senior Isabelle Spingola and first-year Jordan King led MU with 12 points each. Seven of Spingola’s 12 points came in the second half.
First-year forward Camryn Taylor put up nine points along with five rebounds.
“She always comes in ready to play. Very aggressive rebounding the ball. It was huge for us today,” Spingola said.
Marquette finishes 9-2 in nonconference play in Duffy’s first year.
“To go into the holiday break in nonconference at 9-2 is great,” Duffy said. “Proud of what we are building here, growing every day. We have some positive things going on here.”
Marquette will return to action against No.16 DePaul in the BIG EAST opener next Sunday in Chicago.
It will be the first time the two teams have met since the 2019 BIG EAST Championship March 12.
“It doesn’t get any better than that to open conference play,” Duffy said. “There have been some great games over the past couple of years historically, but the important thing now is to get everyone back to their families and we will get ready for DePaul after the holidays.”
This story was written by John Leuzzi. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @JohnLeuzziMU.
Nichole Handy • Dec 21, 2019 at 11:22 pm
Camryn Taylor hit her career high of 15 points, twice. 😊