Villanova spoiled Marquette women’s basketball’s National Marquette Day party.

Led by junior guard Lucy Olsen’s 19 points, which came from 8-of-9 shooting from the field, the Wildcats (15-8, 8-4 Big East) beat the Golden Eagles (18-6, 7-6 Big East) 55-52 in a thriller at the Al McGuire Center.

Marquette got the ball with 37.4 seconds on the clock down one after a Villanova shot clock violation. But the Golden Eagles could not score, as senior forward Liza Karlen got an offensive rebound and turned the ball over, trying to keep the possession alive.

After intentionally fouling on the Wildcats’ next possession, first-year guard Maddie Webber sank two free throws, which sealed the victory for Villanova after Karlen could not connect on a 3-pointer as time expired.

“Villanova played a great game today, and they made timely plays and big shots down the stretch,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said.

Back and forth game falls short

After facing a 16-13 opening quarter deficit, a Karlen 3-pointer with 7:51 opened up an extended 12-2 run for Marquette which gave them a 27-23 lead.

Karlen had five of her 11 points in that stretch, and was supported with layups from Rose Nkumu and Frannie Hottinger. Kenzie Hare also made a 3-pointer — en route to a Marquette-most 16 points, shooting 6-for-16 from the field and 4-f0r-10 from deep.

Marquette followed up the run by going cold for the final 4:28 of the half, but they still lead 27-25 at the break despite Zanai Jones ending the half with a layup off a steal from senior guard Bella Runyan.

The Golden Eagles went on a 5-0 run at the start of the third quarter only for Villanova to respond with a 7-0 run of their own, capped by a shot clock-beating three from junior guard Kaitlyn Orihel which gave the Wildcats the lead back, 38-36.

Marquette opened the final frame hot with a 7-0 run spanning the first 2:54, led by five points from senior guard Jordan King.

Marquette only mustered another King triple before not scoring the last five minutes, as neither team hit a field goal for the final 4:30 of the game.

Turnovers cost Marquette 

Marquette finished the first, second and final quarter on scoring droughts of three-and-a-half-minutes or more. In those stretches, they had seven combined turnovers.

The Golden Eagles had 18 total turnovers and Villanova took advantage of the mistakes. The Wildcats scored 16 points off of the slip-ups.

“We need to be stronger with the ball and make better reads,” Duffy said.

Up next

The Golden Eagles make the short trip to Chicago to visit the DePaul Blue Demons (12-14, 4-9 Big East) on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.

This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.