There was a lot for Marquette women’s basketball (4-1) to celebrate Wednesday night.
Cara Consuegra’s 250th win as a head coach. Halle Vice earning a career-high 23 points. Lee Volker’s second career double-double. Not to mention Marquette’s first away victory of the season, a 75-43 de-clawing of crosstown opponents Milwaukee (2-4).
That list of achievements to Consuegra? A by-product of her team playing well on the court, and focusing above all else on improvement.
“This season is still really young, and we have a lot of improvement to make,” Consuegra said. “Today had to be about improvement and I thought we did that.”
The Golden Eagles started things off in the Klotsche Center doing their favorite thing: running. For the second game in a row, they went on a 6-0 run, bolstered by familiar faces in the paint with Volker, Vice and Mason.
Junior guard Jordan Meulemans kept the pace strong, opening the second period with back-to-back threes and extending the lead to 12. Marquette shot its strongest of the season from beyond the arc, 10-for-23 for 43.5%.
The Golden Eagles run was slowed to a jog when the Panthers scored seven consecutive points, but Marquette responded with a 10-3 run to end the half. Courtesy of Volker’s highest scoring period, contributing seven of the 10 points, on her way to her second career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“That was fun,” Volker said. “I feel like a couple fell in my lap, but I’ll take it.”
It was all Marquette from there, the running turning to sprinting. It went up big in the third scoring 22 points and holding Milwaukee to just five.
Marquette shot 40% from the field, while holding the Panthers to 2-for-16 (12.5%).
Vice scored her most of the night in the third with seven, where she shot 3-for-3 from the field. The junior guard finished the night 9-for-11 from the field and 75% from the arc. It was her second straight game in double figures for scoring and fifth 20 point game of her career.
“If it’s Halle’s game today and Lee’s day last game, it’s going to be Jaidyn’s and it’s going to be Skylar’s it’s just how it is,” Consuegra said. “What I love about this team is they celebrate each other, they find who’s open and we just capitalize off it.”
The Golden Eagles closed it out in the fourth, bringing the lead to 32, including first collegiate points for first-year Kam Herring.
While Marquette has a lot to celebrate tonight, there is still much work to be done, starting with Iowa State on Black Friday in the Coconut Hoops tournament in Fort Myers, Florida.
This story was written by Sofie Hanrahan. She can be reached @[email protected] or on X @SofieHanrahanMU.
