Coming off a big 89-40 win against Providence last Friday, the Marquette women’s basketball team had another high scoring game to defeat Cincinnati 86-75 Thursday afternoon. They now are 3-1 this season.
The Golden Eagles announced Tuesday they were adding today’s game to their schedule. With the quick turnaround, Marquette was able to adjust to the circumstances.
Senior guard Selena Lott leading the team with 26 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Marquette started the game off with a 16-0 run through the first five minutes and never looked back from there. Throughout those five minutes, the Golden Eagles shot 6-9 from the field, while forcing Cincinnati to shoot 0-7.
Turnovers and transition offense were a key to the Golden Eagles success. They forced 18 turnovers, and were able to score 22 fastbreak points.
Along with Lott, three other Marquette players found themselves in double digits. Sophomore guard Jordan King scored 15 points, and added eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Redshirt senior forward Lauren Van Kleunen also scored 15 points, with three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore forward Camryn Taylor added 10 points with six rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
While the scoring for Marquette was dispersed among players, the Bearcats had only two players in double figures. Senior forward Limar’i Thomas led her team with 32 points, and junior guard Destiny Haymer scored 13. Jadyn Scott also tagged on nine points, which is a new career high for the sophomore forward.
Although the Golden Eagles went into the halftime break with a comfortable 49-30 lead, the Bearcats did not let up. Cincinnati came out of the break going on a 9-0 run led by Thomas and Scott early to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 14. During that run, the Bearcats were able to keep Marquette scoreless for almost four minutes, until Lauren Van Kleunen knocked down a pair of free throws to spark a flame in the Golden Eagles offense. After trading some baskets, Marquette went on a 6-0 run themselves, and held a 15 point lead going into the final quarter.
The Golden Eagles started off the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run, but then went cold and did not score a field goal for three minutes after. Cincinnati also had a cold start to the fourth quarter, as they did not score a field goal for over five minutes.
For the rest of the game, both teams traded baskets, but the large lead that Marquette establish early in the game proved to be too big for the Bearcats, even with their 6-0 run to close the game.
Concluding to be another big game for the Marquette defense, they were able to tally up 21 defensive rebounds, along with nine steals and 18 total turnovers throughout the game.
Next, the Golden Eagles (3-1) are set to face off against the Belmont Bruins (1-1) at the Curb Event Center Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Central Standard Time.
This story was written by Kristin Parisi. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kristinparisimu.
