After losing by 13 points in the first game of the series, the Marquette women’s basketball looked to get payback against No. 4 UConn Wednesday night.
The Golden Eagles did just that defeating the Huskies for the first time in program history, 59-52.
“It feels amazing. It’s the reason why I came back,” senior forward Chloe Marotta said. “It’s the reason why I came here, to have these moments like this. Down the stretch, (Assistant) Coach Justine Raterman looked at me and she goes, ‘Finish it’ and I’m like, ‘Absolutely’.”
Here’s a breakdown of the win:
Game MVP:
Marotta nearly had her eighth double of the season by putting in 19 points and nine rebounds.
Marotta scored 15 of her points in the second half, many of those came when senior guard Jordan King went to the bench with foul trouble. Marotta went 7-for-13 shooting from the floor.
“It was awesome to hear Chloe, with the way she’s watching the film,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “The way she’s trying to get an edge not being satisfied and that trickles down to the rest of our team and hopefully our freshmen are learned a thing or two from her.”
Key Stats:
- Marquette forced UConn into 11 turnovers in the first half. UConn ended the game with 19 while Marquette had just eight.
- Junior guard Rose Nkumu finished with five steals on the night while junior forward Liza Karlen had four herself.
- Both teams combined to shoot just 21% from three. Marquette went 4-for-20 while UConn shot just 3-for-13.
- Marquette led for 33:02 of the game, 83% of the game.
- Marquette was previously 0-16 against UConn in the all-time series.
Notes:
- Both teams wore warmups with “Make History Now” written on them. The warmups are being worn across the Big East to honor Black History Month.
- It’s the first time since March 1993 that UConn has lost back-to-back games. The Huskies lost on Sunday to No. 1 South Carolina.
- With the win, coach Duffy becomes the fourth person to beat Geno Auriemma-coached team as both a player and as a coach. Duffy played at Notre Dame from 2002-06 and beat UConn twice with the Irish.
- Marquette improves to 69-3 when leading at halftime under Duffy.
- Prior to this season, Marquette had never beaten an AP Top-5 team. After Wednesday night, the Golden Eagles secured their second such win after defeating No. 3 Texas Nov. 19 in Battle 4 Atlantis.
- Prior to tonight, UConn had won 189 of its past 190 conference games.
Quote of the Day:
King talked about what it meant for her to play UConn in front of a home crowd.
“I was that girl watching UConn,” King said. “I was watching those little girls are coming to see Paige (Bueckers) and her not even getting in the game. To have those young fans in the stands is probably the biggest thing to me.”
Next Up:
Marquette (15-8, 8-6 Big East) now travels out to Rhode Island for a matchup with Providence (13-12, 4-10 Big East) Feb. 15 at 6 pm. CST.
This article was written by John Gunville. He can be reached at j[email protected] or on Twitter @GunvilleJohn.
