It felt like the Golden Eagles could have done so much more against the Sycamores, even when they led by 26.
Can I show you the ESPN GameFlow chart from Marquette women’s basketball’s 83-67 victory over Indiana State on Tuesday night in Milwaukee? I feel like it explains my experience watching it.
40 straight minutes of ohhhhHHHH, okay… ohhhhHHHH, okay… ohhhhHHHH, okay… right all the way through to the end, when Marquette didn’t score for the final 3:08 and ISU nudged that margin back down from the 23 points that Lee Volker had set it at. It was, to be very clear, not anything resembling a bad performance from the Golden Eagles. Sure, it ends up going in the books as their second worst defensive performance of the season, allowing 0.91 points per possession…. but that’s very clearly a very good game. Just not up to Marquette’s standards.
That’s what it felt like, at least on the defensive end. It felt one step short of the furious defense that we’ve seen from Marquette over and over again this season to this point. Part of it, I’m sure, is the fact that MU was never truly threatened in this game, not after an 8-0 run early in the first quarter put them up 12-2. It was 25-13 at the end of the first, one point better than their margin at the end of that run, and 45-32 at the half, one point better again. Never running away with it, never shoving Indiana State off on an ice floe…. just methodically moving away from the Sycamores, slowly but surely, responding to each and every burst that ISU had in them.
Is that more satisfying than watching a team bust off a monster run and then just holding the margin steady for the remainder? Maybe, maybe not, it’s up to you to decide. But the margin peaked late in the third quarter when Volker scored a second chance layup for a 73-47 lead. MU didn’t quite have it in them to extinguish whatever spark ISU had left, and that’s how they trimmed the margin to just 16 at the final horn.
Halle Vice is your top scorer here, getting 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting and just barely missing out on a double-double by one rebound. She had four assists and two blocks to make up for it. Vice was tied with Skylar Forbes for the team high rebounds, and Forbes missed a double-double by the same margin since she put up 10 points in a foul shortened 24 minutes. Lee Volker had an all-around great game with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and block, Olivia Porter had 11 points and five rebounds, and Jaidynn Mason popped off the bench to tally 12 points and a team high six assists.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?
Up Next: The Golden Eagles will look for their sixth straight victory when they host Illinois State on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 2pm Central time, and FloSports will have the broadcast. The Redbirds are 4-3 on the year after beating New Mexico State in Fort Myers on Sunday. They’ll host NAIA St. Francis on Thursday before traveling north from Normal.