Marquette women’s basketball hosted No. 8 UConn Sunday afternoon and went stride for stride with the Huskies until the fourth quarter, ultimately losing the game 72-58 in front of a sold-out Marquette crowd at the Al McGuire Center.
“What a tremendous crowd here in the Al McGuire Center,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy. “Just the place was rocking. I felt we got a lot of our energy for about 35 minutes from the crowd.”
In the first quarter, both teams came out firing with both offenses scoring the ball well. Within the first four minutes of the game, four of Marquette’s five starters put points on the board.
“When a lot of us can get those buckets early I think it sets the tone for the whole game,” sophomore forward Liza Karlen.
The Golden Eagles were able to jump out to a 21-14 lead behind a 9-0 scoring run. However, UConn made two 3-pointers in the final minute to end the quarter down just one, 21-20.
With 14 seconds to go in the first quarter, graduate student forward Lauren Van Kleunen picked up her second foul and would head to the bench and remain there until the second half.
“I was just thrilled that we weathered the storm in the first half with her on the bench,” Duffy said. “We were obviously able to stay close, we could keep her on the bench. I think she knew she was going to try and play the whole time (second half).”
Both teams simmered down after a high scoring first quarter, as both programs combined to score 21 points in the quarter after scoring 41 in the first frame.
Van Kleunen got the scoring going for the Golden Eagles in the second half. The lead would go back and forth between sides before UConn took a 39-38 lead.
Marquette then responded with Karlen grabbing and offensive rebound, drawing the foul and making the free-throw to give the Golden Eagles a 41-39 lead.
Both teams scored six points to close out the quarter, but Marquette held a 47-45 lead heading into the final frame. went into the final frame with the lead 47-45.
UConn’s offense took over in the fourth quarter while Marquette’s offense suddenly became stagnant and flustered.
“We were extremely disappointed by the way we played those last five minutes,” Duffy said. “I thought we were tough; our defense was really good and then just didn’t have enough towards the end. They went on an extremely impressive run.”
UConn exploded on a 12-0 run over a stretch one a minute and 35 seconds to open the game open. The Golden Eagles who seemingly went shot for shot with the Huskies until the fourth ultimately were outscored 27-11 in the final frame.
Leading the way for Marquette offensively was Karlen, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
“I’m excited for her to get a quality game against a really good opponent,” Duffy said.
As a team the Golden Eagles went 24-52 from the field and 3-12 from three point range.
For UConn they were led by both graduate student forward Dorka Juhasz and first year guard Azzi Fudd who both finished the game with 21 points.
The Huskies finished 29-for-62 from the field and 10-for-20 from three point range on the night. UConn’s 10 3-pointers were the most Marquette has given up in a single game this season.
“For them to make 10 threes it’s going to be hard to beat them if they shoot it that well from deep,” Duffy said.
Marquette’s (17-7, 10-5 BIG EAST) schedule doesn’t get any easier as they start a four-game road stretch starting Wednesday at Wintrust Arena against DePaul at 7 p.m. CST.
“The schedule is absolutely brutal,” Duffy said. “It’s really hard as a coach to figure out ways to keep your kids steady with travel with school.”
This article was written by Ben Schultz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @benschultz52.
