A strong and dominant offensive performance helped Marquette women’s basketball to a 76-48 victory over the Xavier Musketeers to open up BIG EAST regular season play.
Here’s a breakdown of the win:
Game MVP: Karissa McLaughlin
Graduate student guard Karissa McLaughlin scored a team high 20 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field and 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, while adding seven assists.
It is the 15th time in her career that she scored 20 or more points in a game.
“It means a lot knowing it’s helping my team to be successful (and) fulfilling my role of knocking down three’s especially coming off a little drought,” McLaughlin said. “Finally seeing the ball go in the hoop it felt good moving forward, especially doing it in front of home court fans.”
Key Stats:
- Marquette opened up the game on a 16-4 run, seven of which came from junior guard Jordan King.
- The Golden Eagles entered halftime with a 20 point lead.
- Marquette’s biggest lead of the night came at the 4:36 mark of the third quarter at 30 points.
- The Golden Eagles had 28 defensive rebounds, while Xavier totaled 16 on the night.
- Marquette shot 46.9% from the field and 58.3% from the 3-point line.
- Xavier shot 36.8% from the field and 20% from the 3-point line.
Notes:
- Marquette’s 25 first quarter points were the team’s second most in a single quarter this season.
- Sophomore forward Liza Karlen recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
- For the fourth straight game, King finished with 10 or more points. The Rockton, Illinois, native added 14 points, three rebounds, one steal and an assist on the night.
- Marquette held Xavier leading scorer Nia Clark to four points on the night.
- Four Golden Eagles finished in double figures.
- Under Duffy, Marquette improved to 38-1 when leading at halftime and 27-3 when scoring 70 or more points in a game.
Quote of the Day:
Following the win, head coach Megan Duffy said she was thrilled for the team to bounce back after their tough loss to Georgia Nov. 27.
“We took a couple days off and talked about competitiveness,” Duffy said. “They (the team) rose to the challenge.”
Next up:
Marquette will host Butler on Sunday, December 5th at 2 P.M at the Al McGuire Center.
This article was written by Ava Mares. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @avamaresMU.
