The Golden Eagles trailed by 14 early in the third quarter but kept fighting and found a way to beat the Scarlet Knights.
They don’t have to be pretty, they just have to end with high fives and smiles at the horn.
Nothing about Marquette’s 59-57 victory over Rutgers on Friday afternoon is going to get confused for pretty. Both teams shot under 40%, both teams turned it over more than 20 times, they combined to commit 34 fouls. But at the horn, it was Marquette rallying back from down 14 to find a way to end up with the high fives and smiles on their side of Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway.
It looked like we were in store for an ugly game when the first quarter ended with the two sides tied at nine points each. It felt like it was going to be an ugly defeat for Marquette when Rutgers won the second quarter 19-8, especially when they closed the half on a 7-0 run over the final 2:50. RU’s Kiomi McMiller broke the ice on the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer, and slowly it turned into a nearly six minute long scoring drought for the Golden Eagles as they trailed by 14.
And then they just turned Rutgers’ water off.
MU put together a 12-2 run — in just over two minutes, which is roughly the speed of light given that they had just 17 points total at that juncture — and then they held Rutgers to just one field goal in the final 2:40 of the quarter as well. Jada Bediako put a shot up and in as the clock wore down on the quarter, and somehow, Marquette had slashed 10 points off of Rutgers’ lead. Part of the somehow? Eight turnovers by the Scarlet Knights in that 10 minutes.
Marquette getting out and moving in the fourth quarter started tipping the game in their favor. They put together a 7-0 run to take a 46-45 lead on a triple from Olivia Porter, and all three buckets went as fast break points. Skylar Forbes tied the game at 50 on a pair of free throws generated by transition, and all MU had to do was figure out how to win the final 5:38.
At least part of the answer there? Six more turnovers by the Scarlet Knights. Another part of the answer? The refs checking the monitor after a jumper from Rutgers’ Mya Petticord and downgrading it to the two-pointer it actually was not the three-pointer it was called on the floor. It also helped that Rutgers left Lee Volker wiiiiiiiide open from long range after one of those turnovers and that tied the game up at 57 with just 1:23 to go.
Then it was just tough play after tough play. Halle Vice made life hard for Destiny Adams, and Skylar Forbes came up big with a block on Chyna Cornwell on the second chance, and then Cornwell traveled after gathering the ball back up. Forbes made a tough move at the rim, drew a foul, and drained her freebies for the two point lead.
Kiomi McMiller missed a very long three which became a very long rebound to Rutgers….. but the MU defense swarmed Adams in the paint as she looked to tie the game, and Volker came up with it. She draws the game extending foul…. MISSES BOTH FREE THROWS……. but Rutgers was out of timeouts. They couldn’t advance the ball. Volker fouled Adams on the rebound, and I swear to you: If Cara Consuegra realized that MU had just two fouls in the quarter and CALLED for the foul with RU out of timeouts, she’s a genius. It wasted time in between the rebound and the foul, and then it was going to waste more time as RU inbounded with even less time left to try to send up a prayer.
Did it matter that much? Well, Rutgers threw a verrrrrrrry long inbound pass into the front court that went untouched, so kind of? MU gets the ball under their own bucket, inbound, horn, high fives and smiles.
Skylar Forbes led the way for Marquette with 23 points and she added six rebounds, too. Lee Volker was the only other double digit scorer, getting 18 as well as a team high seven rebounds.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and Big Ten Network?
Up Next: A quick turnaround for the Golden Eagles is what’s up next. They’ll stay in New Jersey and take on Maryland Eastern Shore at the RAC on Saturday, with tipoff set for 3:30pm Central. You’ll need a B1G+ subscription in order to watch, though. The Hawks are trailing Georgia Southern, 54-35, in the fourth quarter at the RAC as I type this.