Marquette women’s basketball (6-2) cruised to a wire-to-wire 78-57 victory over the Illinois State Redbirds (5-4) Sunday at the Al McGuire Center.
It all started with a smothering defensive effort, by holding the Redbirds to just seven first quarter points, while jumping out to a 13-point advantage at the end of the period. From there, Marquette’s lead only continued to grow behind a balanced scoring attack, piloted by sophomore forward Skylar Forbes, as it secured their fourth straight victory at the Al McGuire Center by 16 or more points, while also extending their win streak to six consecutive games.
Spreading the ball around
Forbes added her first career double-double in the blue and gold, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, also going 3-for-6 from 3-point range. It wasn’t just Forbes’ time to shine, as senior guard Lee Volker finished with 16 points, five assists and two steals.
Junior guard Olivia Porter was all over the court for Marquette, from winning the opening tip, to also being a key factor in the helping move the ball and in transition defense (seven assists, four steals), to go along with 11 points herself. Forbes said that the team’s ability to score in a multitude of ways served as a key element by opening up the offensive game plan.
“We have so many incredible guards and forwards that can push the ball in transition, so a big emphasis on scoring inside and outside of the paint, we were able to get downhill and get whatever we wanted,” Forbes said.
Dominating the board battle
At halftime, Forbes and sophomore guard Halle Vice amassed 13 rebounds, one more than the entire Illinois State team accounted for in the first half.
Marquette finished by collecting 17 more boards than Illinois State throughout the contest, plus-six in offensive rebounds, and plus-11 in defensive rebounds. Marquette was able to turn those rebounds into scoring opportunities, with 25 fast break points on the afternoon, compared to Illinois State’s eight.
Defense wins the day
The Golden Eagles kept the Redbirds’ offense in check, conceding 14 points or less in the first three quarters and keeping Illinois State under the 60-point threshold, the Redbirds’ lowest scoring output of the season.
A team motto set early in the season for Marquette has been “We Defend”, and the Golden Eagles certainly embodied that Sunday afternoon, swiping away 10 steals compared to only two from Illinois State. Head coach Cara Consuegra said that something was going to give between Marquette’s defense and Illinois State’s offense, and whoever would rise to the occasion would win the game.
“I told my team before the game, that team is the best offensive team we’ve played, which I still believe; that we’re the best defensive team that they were going to play; and who’s going to come out on top,” Consuegra said. “To me, it was either our defense or their offense, so we took that really personal, I thought, and our kids came out and set the tone.”
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.