The cold and icy Milwaukee weather kept many fans at home for tonight’s Big East matchup between Marquette women’s basketball (18-9, 11-7 Big East) and Creighton (21-7, 15-5 Big East).
And if you’re a Golden Eagle fan, it was probably for the best.
Behind a one-sided third quarter performance, Creighton defeated Marquette 55-44 at the Al McGuire Center Wednesday night.
Here is a breakdown of the Golden Eagles’ loss:
Game MVP:
Last time these two teams played, junior forward Morgan Maly finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Tonight was more of the same as the Crete, Nebraska native ended the game with a double-double, earning 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“She’s (Maly) been able to expand her game a little bit. Being able to score from the outside and then getting down in the end of the post,” senior guard Jordan King said. “She was a good scorer and able to knock down good shots tonight.”
Key Stats:
- The Golden Eagles ended the first twenty minutes of play with 14 points in the paint, six more than the Bluejays’ eight.
- Both teams went into halftime with a near identical shooting percentage. Creighton was shooting 11-for-26 (42.3%) from the field and Marquette shot 12-for-29 (41.4%).
- Junior forward Liza Karlen ended the first-half with eight points and finished with 10.
- Marquette went 1-for-11 (9.1%) from the field in the third frame and got outscored 18-5.
- The Golden Eagles turned over the ball 13 times, six of which came from Karlen.
- The Bluejays scored 14 points off the Golden Eagles’ 13 turnovers.
Notes:
- Coming into tonight, Creighton and Marquette were third and fourth respectively in the Big East in scoring margin. The Bluejays had a margin of +10 and the Golden Eagles had a margin of +8.4.
- At the tip-off, Creighton was in third place in the Big East standings and Marquette was in fourth.
- The last time the Golden Eagles played the Bluejays, they were held to their lowest-scoring performance of the season.
- Creighton began the second half with a 9-0 run, from which Marquette couldn’t recover.
- Karlen was available for the Golden Eagles tonight, which wasn’t the case in their previous matchup with the Bluejays due to a mouth injury.
- With five assists in the contest, King passed former guard Natisha Niedeman moving into sixth place on Marquette’s all-time career assist leaderboard.
Quote of the Day:
King commented on what needs to be improved upon for Marquette’s next game.
“It’s leadership,” King said. “The response after someone goes on a run, being able to collectively, as a senior leader, be able to bring the team back together stay five connected on the court.”
Up Next:
Marquette travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to play Xavier (7-20, 0-18 Big East) Saturday at 1 p.m. CST. The Golden Eagles beat the Musketeers 64-40 at the Al McGuire Center in January.
This article was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached [email protected] or on Twitter @JackAlbrightMU.
