The Marquette women’s basketball team defeated the Georgetown Hoyas at the Al McGuire Center by a score of 72-40 Wednesday afternoon. It was the team’s first home game since Dec. 16.
Junior guard Chloe Marotta led the way for the Golden Eagles with a career high of 21 points. She also tallied seven rebounds and four assists.
Nine different players were able to score in the game and five of those players had between four and 13 points. The well-rounded distribution contributed to a comfortable victory, which has now improved Marquette’s overall record to 8-2 and 5-1 in BIG EAST play this season.
“It was great to be back on our home floor of the Al McGuire Center,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “ It felt like a really, really long time since we had a home game.”
Marquette took care of business from the very beginning, going on an 8-0 scoring run and they never looked back.
“My teammates did a great job at driving and kick,” Marotta said. “We talked a lot about impacting the paint a little bit, and kicking for outside shots. You have to be confident to take (them) and that is what I did tonight.”
Marquette was strong defensively as well throughout the game, holding Georgetown to only five points after the first ten minutes of play.
The Golden Eagles made it tough for the Hoyas to make contact with the board throughout the first half and were able to clinch a 23-point lead by halftime. In the second half of play, Marquette came out hitting more shots, which eventually increased their lead to over 30 points by the end of the game.
Despite the challenges that Georgetown faced, they still had some strong offensive possessions. This matchup in Milwaukee was only the fifth game the Hoyas have played this season, making it hard for them to keep pace with Marquette due to the lack of game-like situations they have had this season.
“(It was) just a great effort overall, Chloe Marotta had a special afternoon today with her shooting percentage, great versatility inside and out (with) 21 points and seven boards,” Duffy said. “I thought we did a great job defensively making shots they had to take very difficult. (It’s) really good to get another game in.”
Redshirt senior forward Lauren Van Kleunen and senior guard Selena Lott also scored in double figures with 14 points and 13 points, respectively.
Marquette was able to shoot a season-best 57.1% from the field with 26 assists on 32 made baskets. This is the second game in a row that MU has shot 50% or better and the fourth time this season. Meanwhile, the Hoyas were held to a 26.2% shooting percentage, making 16 of 61 shots.
Georgetown’s leading scorers were Milan Bolden-Morris with 11 points and Jillian Archer with nine.
The Golden Eagles will now travel to Butler for a Sunday afternoon game. This game will be televised on FS1.
This story was written by Molly Gretzlock. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @mollygretzlock.
