It wasn’t a normal Monday night in the Al McGuire Center, it was a little bit more than that.
Before Marquette (20-9, 13-7 Big East) took down DePaul (15-16, 8-12) 98-80, senior forward Chloe Marotta was honored in traditional senior night fashion: a standing ovation from the crowd and a slow lap around hugging family and friends.
“Coach asked me ‘If you’re gonna cry’ and I was like, ‘No coach, I’m not gonna cry. We got a game to play, I’m not gonna cry,'” Marotta said. “All of a sudden they did the video, I saw my teammates and they call my name out and I was like, ‘oh, God it’s all hitting me right now right before the game.”
It was Marquette’s highest scoring game of the season.
“I can’t say enough about a lot of people tonight,” head coach Megan Duffy said. “Chloe sent herself out of the Al the right way. She was tremendous.”
Marotta’s Moment
After five years playing on the Al McGuire court, Marotta finished with 22 points and six rebounds in her final showing.
“Since I walked in the door at Marquette, Chloe been an incredible role model for me,” junior forward Liza Karlen said. “She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met. Whether the lights are on, whether it’s completely dark, or no one’s in the gym, she’s gonna have the same mentality to get better.”
Marotta is the seventh player in program history to record at least 1000 points and 800 rebounds.
“Chloe taught me what Marquette was all about,” Duffy said. “I said ‘Give me your story,’ I hear all this stuff about your dad, your mom and your brother but you know what, what is it about you on the women’s side that you want to build’ and that’s kind of how our relationship started.”
Marotta wasn’t the only only one wearing No. 52 tonight as her jersey was worn by fans throughout the stands.
“It’s really cool. I was looking around and a couple of my brother’s jerseys, couple of my jerseys,” Marotta said. “‘I was like, ‘Man this is awesome.'”
Statistical Leaders
Karlen led the way for the Golden Eagles with 26 points and had a team-high 14 rebounds.
“Look at that stat line. 26 points, 14 rebounds. That’s huge,” Marotta said. “Especially against DePaul too. Liza always has good games against them, so coming out she took her shots.”
First Half Fire
Marquette kicked off the game with a 34-point first quarter, it’s the best offensive quarter of the season. Marotta hit the first bucket of the game for Marquette and didn’t stop there, as she had 13 points by the end of the quarter.
Before halftime, DePaul brought the lead down to just eight points before a King 3-pointer launched a 12-0 Marquette run. The Golden Eagles took a 53-35 lead into the break.
“Our game plan was: trust the offense, trust the ball movement and let it fly,” Duffy said. “I thought Liza and Emily got off to a great start and Chloe had a couple of shots early. Surprising that we scored 34 because we don’t score that in three quarters sometimes.”
Closing out the Al
In the third quarter Marquette fended off a 5-0 DePaul run by managing to extend its lead to 20 points. At the end of the quarter the Golden Eagles led 74-54.
DePaul closed the gap to just 11 points with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but Marquette was able to fend the Blue Demons off by going on one last extended run to seal the victory.
Marquette ends the regular season with a 12-3 record at home.
Up Next:
Marquette now shifts its focus to the Big East Tournament later this week at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Golden Eagles will face off against St. John’s March 5 at 1:30 p.m. CST in the 4-5 game.
This article was written by John Gunville. He can be reached at j[email protected] or on Twitter @GunvilleJohn.
