Marquette women’s basketball fell short in Cara Consuegra’s head coaching debut.
The UCF Golden Knights (2-0) bested the Golden Eagles (0-1) 57-50 behind first-year Emely Rodriguez’s 18 points and 7 rebounds Thursday night in Orlando, Florida.
UCF took a 6-5 lead on a made jumper by Achol Akot with 6:34 in the opening quarter and never looked back. With 6:07 left in the second quarter, a Rodriguez layup gave UCF a 27-14 lead. However, the Golden Eagles showed resilience, cutting the game to 27-22 at the half.
UCF’s size allowed them to out-rebound Marquette 38-26. Hannah Gusters, a 6-foot-5 senior, led the Golden Knights with 12 rebounds and added 9 points. UCF’s size on defense also provided an issue, causing Marquette to shoot 15-for-37 (40.5%) from 2-point range.
Akot had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Senior Kaitlin Peterson added nine points and four assists for the Golden Knights.
Foul trouble was an issue for Marquette throughout the game. Forbes (7:28), Halle Vice (6:37), and Lee Volker (1:28) all committed two fouls in the second quarter, which sidelined them for the rest of the half. In the third quarter, with 2:50 remaining, Forbes committed her fourth foul, causing her to miss significant minutes.
After a back-and-forth third quarter, UCF pulled away again in the fourth quarter, taking a 52-36 lead with six minutes left. Again, Marquette battled back and finished the game on a 14-5 run.
The Golden Eagles forced 27 UCF turnovers and had 11 steals, led by Lee Volker who had four. Additionally, the Golden Eagles held the Golden Knights to 21-for-47 (44.7%) from the field. While it gave up some open three-pointers — allowing UCF to go 5-for-12 from three-point range— Marquette’s swarming defense gave UCF problems getting the ball up the floor and getting quality shots.
Offensively, Marquette started slow, shooting 18-for-55 (32.7%) and an atrocious 3-for-18 (16.7%) from three-point range while turning the ball over 19 times.
Transfer guard Olivia Porter — in her debut with the Golden Eagles — led the team in scoring with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting, additionally going 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Skylar Forbes added 11 points (4-for-16), four rebounds and three assists and knocked down the team’s only three three-pointers despite being in foul trouble throughout the game. Lee Volker did a little bit of everything, dropping 10 points, six rebounds, and four steals.
Aryelle Stevens added four points on 100% shooting and four rebounds off the bench.
Next up, Marquette will travel to State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, on Sunday to face Illinois (1-0). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.
This story was written by Max Mullin. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MullinMax
