After closing out the non-conference portion of its schedule, the Marquette women’s basketball team (9-3, 2-1 Big East) returns to Big East play tomorrow night, taking on the Villanova Wildcats (10-3, 1-1 Big East) at the Al McGuire Center.
Marquette is coming off its third loss of the season and its first at home falling to Colorado 71-48 last Wednesday.
“This was a great job by Colorado, I thought they were tremendous,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said. “They played their game tough. Defensively they were very good, and they shot the ball extremely well. I’m disappointed with how we came out, then we never really fixed it or got it together. We’ll go back to the drawing board, take a few days off for Christmas then figure it out for BIG EAST play.”
Senior guard Jordan King led all Marquette scorers with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the floor. In addition, she grabbed seven rebounds, dished four assists and had three steals.
Senior forward Chloe Marotta made her 129th career appearance in the contest, moving into Marquette’s all-time top 10 in career games played. She is now tied for ninth in program history, along with Sarina Simmons and Krystal Ellis.
Villanova heads into Wednesday’s contest with a 10-3 overall record and a 1-1 Big East mark. The Wildcats are coming off a 81-55 home win over the La Salle Explorers last Wednesday afternoon. Senior forward Maddy Siegrist scored a game-high 31 points and pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds to lead the Wildcats. It was the sixth double-double of the season for Siegrist, who was named Big East Player of the Week this past week.
For Siegrist, this is the 12th time in her career that she has earned Big East Player of the Week honors which ties her with Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry and UConn’s Rebecca Lobo for the most player of the week honors in conference history.
With the win, Villanova captured the 2022-23 Philadelphia Big 5 championship with a perfect 4-0 record.
Fun Facts:
- Villanova ranks fourth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55) while Marquette ranks 30th in the category with a 1.21 ratio.
- Siegrist is currently averaging 28 points per game, which ranks 2nd in the country and 1st in the Big East.
- The Golden Eagles rank second in the Big East in offensive rebounds, averaging 13.8 per game. The Wildcats rank seventh with an average of 11.5 per contest.
- Villanova is 5-0 in true road games this season as it has played nine of its first 13 games of the season away from home. The five true road games are the second most among teams from the Power 5 conferences and the Big East.
- Siegrist has reached the 20-point mark in all 13 games this season, including reaching the 30-point mark on five occasions this season. Her lowest point total of the season was 21 in Villanova’s season opener versus Marist while her best scoring performance of the year came in a 41-point effort against Temple.
A Look Back:
- Marquette leads the all-time series with a record of 18-12.
- The Golden Eagles have not defeated the Wildcats in Milwaukee under second-year head coach Denise Dillion.
- Marquette is 8-5 when facing Villanova in the Al McGuire Center.
- In the last matchup between the two teams, Marquette fell to Villanova in overtime with a score of 74-63. Siegrist finished with 42 points and 13 rebounds.
Key Players:
- King is Marquette’s leading scorer, averaging 14.7 points per game. The Rockton, Illinois native is the team’s primary ballhandler and is aggressive on both ends of the court, leading the team with 4.2 assists per game and 2.3 steals per game.
- Marotta is having an outstanding final season as she is averaging 13.6 points per game, which is the first time in her career that she is averaging in double figures. She also leads the team in rebounds, averaging 8.3 boards per game.
- Siegrist not only leads Villanova in scoring but also in rebounds and steals with 9.7 boards and 1.5 steals per game. The Big East Preseason Player of the Year will be tough to defend, as she is currently shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc.
- Olsen is averaging 13.4 per game and leads the team in assists, averaging 4.1 per contest. The Collegeville, Pennsylvania native also leads the Wildcats from beyond the arc shooting 47.7%, which ranks third in the Big East.
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This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @KaylynnWrightMU.
