After falling to the Seton Hall Pirates Dec. 19, the Marquette women’s basketball team entered the night looking for a regular season split.
Behind a strong defensive and rebounding night, the Golden Eagles were able to do just that as they defeated the Pirates 62-43 inside the Al McGuire Center Wednesday night.
Here is a breakdown of the Golden Eagles’ win:
Game MVP: Liza Karlen
After being named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, sophomore forward Liza Karlen continued her recent success Wednesday night.
Karlen finished with a career-high 15 rebounds and 14 points as she played an integral part in slowing down Seton Hall junior guard Lauren Park-Lane, who had 25 points the last time these two teams played. Park-Lane finished with just 11 points on the night.
“Just loved her tenacity out there and she just made a lot of big plays,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said. “Even covered up some things on defense as well. So I thought overall another great performance by her”
Key Stats:
- Marquette held Seton Hall to shooting 6-for26 in the first half and 0-for-6 from the three-point line.
- In the first half Marquette out rebounded Seton Hall 28-12.
- The Golden Eagles had 24 assists on 27 field goal makes.
Notes:
- Marquette is now 13-1 this season when leading at halftime and 47-2 under Duffy.
- In the first 4:51 of the first half Marquette outscored Seton Hall 15-6.
- It’s the first time this season Marquette has had multiple players finish with a double-double as Karlen and graduate student forward Lauren Van Kleunen both finished with double-digit points and rebounds.
- Senior forward Chloe Marotta recorded 10 rebounds for the fourth time this season.
- The Golden Eagles held its ninth overall and third-straight opponent to under 50 points.
- At the 1:23 mark of the first quarter, Van Kleunen scored the 1,278th point of her career to move into Marquette’s all-time top 20. She passed Carolyn Kieger and Tammy Shain and now ranks 19th all-time with 1,297 points.
- With the win Marquette is now 17-10 all time against the Pirates.
Quote of the Day:
“A lot of people contributed all the way down,” Van Kleunen said. “We talk about a lot, strength in numbers, and that was huge for us tonight.”
Next up:
Marquette (14-5, 7-3 BIG EAST) will go on the road to play St. John’s Sunday at noon CST.
This article was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
