Over 1,000 school-aged children packed the Al McGuire Center Friday afternoon, creating an electric environment, as the Marquette women’s basketball team hosted the Georgetown Hoyas for Field Trip Day, defeating them 73-51 in convincing fashion.
With the win, Marquette is now in a three-way tie for third place in the BIG EAST standings. Meanwhile, the Hoyas have now lost six straight conference matchups.
“The building was rocking and loud. It was wild,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “There were signs that were lit up … I couldn’t hear myself think at times. It was awesome, and kudos to our marketing team for getting (the kids) here and bringing a ‘Kid’s Day’ home-court advantage.”
It wasn’t an ideal start for Marquette offensively as the team went just 3-for-13 in the first quarter.
“(We) got off to a little bit of a slow start,” Duffy said. “We finally settled down towards the end of that first quarter.”
MU trailed by as much as 10 points in the opening frame but cut its deficit to three after a 7-0 run late in the first quarter.
The Golden Eagles completely flipped the script in the second quarter. MU’s offense shot 53% from the field and went into halftime leading 37-28.
“Our ball movement in the second quarter was awesome,” Duffy said. “We were sharing the ball, moving the ball (and) got open shots.”
In the third quarter, both teams found success shooting the ball. The Golden Eagles shot 47% while the Hoyas shot 54%.
Marquette continued its offensive prowess in the fourth quarter and hunkered down defensively, holding Georgetown to just 2-for-18 from the field.
“We didn’t really blow it open until early in the fourth quarter,” Duffy said. “I was just really happy with our focus, and I thought our bench was really good giving us some minutes as well.”
Senior guard Isabelle Spingola notched a game-high 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting while adding three rebounds and three assists. Additionally, she put on a brilliant performance from beyond the arc going 6-for-8. Today’s game marked the fourth time this season that Spingola has hit six 3-pointers.
“Izzy’s been great,” Duffy said. “The way Georgetown played their matchups … she knew that she was going to get shots out of it. It was only a matter of if we could get her in the right spot. Once you hit a couple, that basket gets really big.”
“I’m just going to keep continuing to play my role,” Spingola said. “Learning how to score in different ways, being a good teammate and doing the little things.”
Junior Selena Lott and redshirt junior Lauren Van Kleunen also finished in double-digit point totals, combining for 29 points.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 43% from the field and 53% from beyond the arc. Marquette recorded assists on 22 of its 27 made field goals.
For the Hoyas, senior guard Marvellous Osagie-Erese led the way for Georgetown with 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting.
Both teams weren’t particularly great holding on to the ball as Marquette tallied 13 turnovers while Georgetown finished with 22.
Defensively, MU held the Hoyas to just 33% shooting.
Marquette (14-5, 5-3 BIG EAST) hosts the second-place Villanova Wildcats Sunday at 2 p.m.
“It’s a big game because (Villanova) is so hard to guard and defend,” Duffy said. “For me, it’s less about the standings and more about being locked in and (getting) our legs back and (being) ready to perform at a high level on Sunday.”
This article was written by Tyler Peters. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @_tylerpeters_.
