Like a snowball rolling downhill, momentum is the name of the game.
Marquette women’s basketball (16-7, 10-4 Big East) entered Wednesday night on a four-game winning streak. On the other end of the court, the Providence Friars (10-14, 3-10) walked into the Al McGuire Center having dropped six of their last seven contests.
A Marquette win would extend each streak. A Providence victory would snap both.
And, after a dominant second quarter, a 78-61 victory for the Golden Eagles secured the former and simultaneously pushed them to their longest win streak of the season (5).
The Friars and Golden Eagles landed punches in quick succession for the duration of the first quarter, trading the lead ten times in total — and five times in the last four minutes. In a game where each team hit the court with momentum, the back-and-forth battle set a tone in the opening minutes.
Friars forward Tenesia Brown made a layup. Senior guard Kennedi Perkins countered with a three-point play. Brown hit a pullup jumper. Then, with 27 seconds left in the first quarter, junior forward Skylar Forbes put away a layup to swing a 19-18 lead for the Golden Eagles.
And control of the game never changed hands again. Behind a stifling defense and an outburst of offense, Marquette led the rest of the way, growing its lead to 15 points by halftime after dominating the second frame.
In the huddle between quarters, Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra challenged the pink-clad Golden Eagles to find a better “defensive focus.” Providence finished the quarter with a 31% shooting clip.
“I thought in the second quarter we came out and defended a lot better,” Consuegra said. “And when we get stops, it helps our offense go.”
Those stops were many in the second quarter, including a 4:42 defensive hold where the Golden Eagles forced a 0-for-8 Friars clip from the field, including three missed layups.
Over that stretch, the Golden Eagles posted a 12-0 run of their own. By the midway point of the second quarter, the Golden Eagles’ once-contested advantage had grown from one point to 13. At the break, Marquette held a 44-29 lead, largely in part to a 12-point advantage in points in the paint. By the game’s close, the Golden Eagles finished with 42.
“When teams try to take the paint away from us, we have to have great pace, we have to move the ball well. We have to make them play multiple actions,” Consuegra said. “And then, when we do that, we’re able to still find what we want.”
Driving the game in the paint was junior guard Halle Vice, who finished with 10 rebounds and 15 points to secure her ninth double-double of the season.
“She just has a really high level of competitiveness,” graduate guard Lee Volker said. “I think that’s where rebounding comes into play, because she’s not gonna let her man beat her to the ball.”
Along with Vice, Volker was one of three Golden Eagles to finish in double digits on the scoreboard, posting 19 points and a team-best +18. Forbes was Marquette’s leading scorer on the night, accounting for 22 points — 18 of which came in the second half — in 27 minutes off the bench.
With a five-game string of wins, the Golden Eagles will head to Omaha, Neb. to battle the Creighton Bluejays (11-12, 7-7 Big East). Marquette took the teams’ first meeting on Jan. 8, topping the Blue Jays 67-49 at the Al McGuire Center.
This story was written by Lance Schulteis. He can be reached at [email protected].
