CHICAGO — Marquette women’s basketball dropped its first BIG EAST match of the season, falling to No. 16 DePaul 89-71 Sunday afternoon.
This was the first time the two teams had met since the BIG EAST Championship Final.
The Golden Eagles came out with a quick start, going on an 8-2 run in the first three minutes. Momentum shifted toward DePaul as MU finished the first quarter with 11 turnovers.
The Blue Demons’ offense dominated in the second quarter, shooting 65% from the field. Marquette didn’t make a 3-pointer until the 1:06 mark of the second quarter.
MU finished the half with 15 turnovers and turned the ball over on 37% of its possessions.
The Golden Eagles allowed 48 points in the second half and were unable to keep up with the Blue Demons’ offense, despite shooting at a 65% clip.
“Just disappointed with our second half,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “I thought at times we just couldn’t handle (DePaul’s) pressure. We just didn’t have that will to win. In that third quarter, we didn’t step up.”
Redshirt senior guard Lauren Van Kleunen led the Golden Eagles with 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Junior guard Selena Lott and senior forward Altia Anderson also notched double-digit point totals.
“I thought (Van Kleunen) was great today,” Duffy said. “Every person she guarded was a tough matchup for her. She hung in there and showed some great senior leadership.”
DePaul’s sophomore guard Lexi Held scored a team-high 22 points for the Blue Demons on 9-for-16 shooting. Three other DePaul players scored in double digits.
Overall, Marquette shot 27-for-54 from the field and just 4-for-13 from beyond the arc. DePaul shot 33-for-72 from the floor and 9-for-26 from deep.
The difference in the match was turnovers. The Golden Eagles finished with 26 total turnovers while the Blue Demons only had 11. MU has finished with double-digit turnovers in 10 straight games.
“We didn’t stick to what we worked on in the last three or four days,” Duffy said. “I thought we were very tentative with our decision-making. It led to easy baskets for DePaul.”
Marquette fell to 9-3 overall and 0-1 in the BIG EAST play. This was MU’s first road loss of the season.
“(DePaul) has such a high-octane offense,” Duffy said. “Playing in their building is always challenging. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and see what team we want to be about here moving forward. We’ve got a long season ahead, and I’m excited to see how we’ll respond.”
The Golden Eagles face the Creighton Bluejays in their next matchup Friday at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time in Omaha, Nebraska.
This story was written by Tyler Peters. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @_tylerpeters_.
