The Golden Eagles got out to a big early lead, just like in Milwaukee, but they couldn’t keep it but left with the win anyway.
I sat down on Saturday night, knowing that Marquette women’s basketball zipped out to a big ol’ lead against Georgetown in the first meeting between these two teams this season. I watched Marquette score the first seven points of the game. I watched Marquette rattle off another seven straight in the middle of the quarter for a 17-7 lead as the clock drifted below the four minute mark of the first period.
“Well,” I said to myself, “this seems mighty familiar.”
The rest of the game was not familiar.
By the time the quarter was over, Georgetown had cut the lead down to just four points as MU went the entire final 4:09 without scoring. The 6-0 burst at the end of the first period turned into 11 straight for the Hoyas, and oops, they were up 1, 18-17. MU tried to reassert themselves, going on a 9-2 run to retake the lead and go up six…. and then they didn’t have a field goal for the final 3:57 and only two free throws from Jada Bediako stopped MU from getting shutout for that stretch. Marquette by two heading into intermission, and that turned into a seven point lead before three minutes of the third quarter went by.
And yet, with 2:01 to go, a three-pointer from Ariel Jenkins made it 40-38 Georgetown.
A back and forth game to say the least.
Marquette did start the fourth quarter with a lead thanks to an and-1 from Halle Vice, but a bad transition outlet pass from Lee Volker allowed Victoria Rivera to hit a three going the other way, and that pushed Georgetown to a 5-0 spurt and a two point lead. MU answered. Georgetown answered. 2:46 to go, home team up two.
And then, finally, it was Marquette’s turn to turn their opponent’s offense off in the closing minutes of a quarter.
Over the final 2:40 of the game, Marquette allowed just one point, a Kelsey Ransom free throw. On the other end, eight points for the Golden Eagles: Free throws from Skylar Forbes, a layup from Olivia Porter, a layup from Jaidynn Mason, and two last second free throws from Vice. MU led by 10 in the first, as many as six in the second quarter, and by seven in the third. None of that mattered, as the Golden Eagles had to figure out a way to win on a night when they really didn’t have much going on the offensive end of the court, at least not consistently.
And they did it, moving their Big East record to 11-5. For the time being, that gives the Golden Eagles a half game lead on their league rivals for the #3 seed in the Big East tournament, with Seton Hall and Villanova sitting half a game back.
Jaidynn Mason was your leading scorer here, getting 14 of her team high 18 points in the first half. Halle Vice had a double-double on 10 points and a game high 12 rebounds. Mason added a team high four assists to the show, while Skylar Forbes led Marquette in both steals and blocks with three each to make up for missing time in the first half because of fouls and finishing with seven points on 2-for-10 shooting.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?
Up Next: One final week of the regular season. MU will hold Senior Night for Abbey Cracknell and Lee Volker coming up on Thursday when they host Xavier at the McGuire Center. Tipoff is set for 6:30pm Central, and FloSports will have the broadcast.