The Huskies closed the game on a 75-37 run.
Skylar Forbes hit her first three shots of the game on Wednesday afternoon at the McGuire Center. That shot Marquette women’s basketball out to an 8-2 start against #7 UConn. That meant that we had ourselves a fun basketball game on New Year’s Day….. right up until the visiting Huskies got their footing after that early Forbes blast.
UConn went on a 20-6 run after that, and a step-in jumper by MU’s Kennedi Perkins made it a 22-16 game at the end of the first quarter. Not too bad, not what you want after that hot start, but ultimately fine.
However, the Huskies scored the first eight points of the second quarter to jump out to a 30-16 lead. That was kind of the beginning of the end for Marquette, and if it wasn’t, it happened after the Golden Eagles pulled within 10, 32-22. That happened on a pair of Forbes free throws with 5:22 left before halftime, and Marquette wouldn’t score again until 66 seconds left before the break. 11-2 UConn to end the half, 43-24 for the game at that point, 21-8 in the quarter, 41-16 since that 8-2 Marquette lead in the early goings.
Not much to talk about after that. Marquette kept it relatively even in the third quarter, 14-13 UConn for that 10 minutes, but that’s not good enough when you’re down 19 at the break. Fact of the matter is that Marquette scored 16 points in the first quarter, and then just 29 points the rest of the way.
GOOD NEWS: Marquette did score a field goal in the fourth quarter, and they did break 30 points, so this was better than The Worst Offensive Performance In Program History, which happened in last year’s Big East tournament semifinals between these two teams.
Skylar Forbes had a game high 20 points, which means she had 12 in the final 34 minutes after UConn realized they needed to put a lid on her. That’s still a pretty solid performance, even if she missed her last five three-point attempts of the game. Halle Vice rounded up a game high 11 rebounds, while Olivia Porter led MU in the assists column with four.
Do you want to give partial credit to Marquette’s defense for holding Paige Bueckers to 12 points on 4-for-12 shooting? Feels kind of “game plan worked!” right?
How about some highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and SNY?
Up Next: Marquette returns to action this weekend when they host Butler at the McGuire Center for a Saturday matinee. Tipoff on FS1 is scheduled for 3pm Central time. The Bulldogs are 10-6 overall but 0-3 in Big East action after suffering a 68-64 loss at Creighton on Wednesday afternoon.