There were a couple of milestones within reach for the No. 19 Marquette women’s basketball team as it returned home to the Al McGuire Center fresh off its east coast road trip.
But first, there was business to take care of.
After getting blown out at UConn and losing a heartbreaker at St. John’s, the Golden Eagles had to try and find themselves again in the midst of the Big East grind.
“Obviously we were very disappointed at St. John’s with the outcome, but we just have been trying to get back to the basics, watch a lot of film,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said. “We kept talking to the team about what we can do to be successful and about how we can get back to the small things that make us great.”
Luckily for the Golden Eagles, in a season where they were 8-0 at home coming into this game including a pair of ranked wins, being successful at home has been no issue.
It was more of the same for Marquette (13-2, 2-2 Big East) Saturday afternoon, as it used a dominant first half to secure the 81-52 win over Xavier (1-11, 0-3 Big East).
A day full of history
With the win, Duffy became the fastest head coach to 100 wins in program history, sitting with a 100-39 overall record over her first four and a half seasons at Marquette. Her .719 winning percentage is best in program history.
“I’m just grateful to continue to be in a position to help these women,” Duffy said. “It’s cool I guess, but it doesn’t mean much other than the work that the people around us-from coaches, to players, and administration-what they do to help make this successful. I’m just appreciative of that.”
There was additional history that was made on Saturday, as King entered her name into the top ten in all-time scoring at Marquette.
With 8:06 remaining in the third quarter, King rose up for an and-one layup that gave her 1,611 career points, enough to pass former Marquette great Christine Kennedy for No. 10 all-time. The feat also means King is one of two players in program history to have over 1,500 career points and 500 career assists.
Locking in
Often times this season Marquette has jumped on their opponents early, getting out to commanding leads before the opposition has had time to think.
However, it was the opposite of what has become the norm for the Golden Eagles this season, as 3-pointers by first-year guard Daniela López and junior guard Kaysia Woods put the Musketeers up 6-0 before Marquette could even blink.
After another bucket by López, Xavier led 8-0 just under two minutes into the game and Duffy called her first timeout.
“Give Xavier a lot of credit. I thought their kids were ready to play, they played loose, they played free and hit a couple of threes early,” Duffy said. “We had a quick timeout to try and settle us down. I just thought that we turned it up defensively and tried to turn them over.”
It was all Golden Eagles from that point on, as Marquette went on to outscore Xavier 35-7 the rest of the half, putting the game out of reach for the Musketeers. The Golden Eagles held Xavier to just five points in the second frame.
Statistical leaders
Four players — Kenzie Hare, Jordan King, Liza Karlen and Skylar Forbes — scored in double figures. The Golden Eagles tallied a season-high 14 steals as well.
For the Musketeers, López led the way with 13 points. Fifth-year forward Nila Forward also added nine points and nine rebounds.
Up next
The Golden Eagles head back out east to South Orange, New Jersey to take on Seton Hall Tuesday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m CST.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
