The Golden Eagles return to the McGuire Center after snapping their winning streak for one last non-conference game.
The “Marquette women’s basketball is figuring it out and coming together!” tour took a wrong turn on Wednesday night in Ohio, as the Golden Eagles took on a 64-62 loss to Bowling Green. A rockfight of a first quarter is partially responsible as Marquette couldn’t take advantage of holding the Falcons to just 12 points in the opening frame, and then a turnover at the very end prevented MU from forcing overtime after a late flurry to get them a chance to do so.
I’m not just saying that “oh, it’s a loss, so it’s a wrong turn” here, either. The Bowling Green game was MU’s lowest Game Score according to BartTorvik.com since the season opening loss to UCF. It was MU’s worst offensive efficiency game since they scrapped out that 59-57 win over Rutgers on Thanksgiving weekend, and it was the second worst defensive efficiency performance of the season, coming in behind only the “I think they could clearly be doing better” outing while beating Indiana State 83-67.
In short, it’s MU’s first real misstep of the season after opening with losses to UCF and Illinois. I’m not saying this is sending the whole season into a tailspin, but it does clearly drive home the point that Cara Consuegra’s first team at Marquette is far from a finished or polished product at this point of the year. A win over Bowling Green would not have been a clear sign that the Golden Eagles were ascending to something much better than expected, but it would have been a positive road sign towards that at the very least. Instead, it’s a bit back to the drawing board to figure out what’s going on with just one final tune up left before Big East play starts after Christmas.
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Game #11: vs Stonehill Skyhawks (4-7)
Date: Saturday, December 21, 2024
Time: Noon Central
Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: FloSports, with Bob Brainerd and Chloe Marotta calling the action
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB
Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
This is the first ever meeting between Marquette and Stonehill. The men’s basketball teams for both schools played each other earlier this season, so go read that preview if you want to know why there’s a plane at the top of the page.
Stonehill comes in with wins in two of their last three contests after suffering a five game losing streak before that. Marquette will be the first high major opponent that they play this season and just the fourth time that they play a team ranked in the top 150 at BartTorvik.com. I say all of that to provide context for what their 3-7 record against Division 1 opponents actually tells us about what they’re doing as a team this season.
The Skyhawks picked up the 65-49 road win over Northeastern last time out by dividing labor equally, at least in terms of scoring. Three women tied for the team lead with 12 points, while two more added 10. That’s not necessarily how it always goes for Stonehill as they have just three women averaging double figures, but that’s definitely one way to skin a cat. Sharn Hayward, a 5’6” guard from Tasmania, is the overall scoring leader this season at 15.7 per game, and she was one of the three with 12 points against Northeastern. Brooke Paquette and Kylie Swider are the other two double digit scorers, and Swider, a 6’4” grad transfer from Villanova, is a bit of a double-double threat with a team high 8.1 rebounds per game as well. Unfortunately for Stonehill, Swider won’t be able to double as an assistant coach/scout in this one, as her MU insights are all stuck in the Megan Duffy era.
Speaking of double-doubles, 6’0” senior Maureen Stapleton did have one against Northeastern, putting up 12 points and 11 rebounds. It’s her second double digit rebounding game in the last three — she did it in both Stonehill wins in the last three games — and her third of the season. Stapleton is averaging 7.1 rebounds per game while starting and playing 26 minutes a game, and she does most of her damage on the defensive glass.
At a glance, this seems to be a game where Marquette’s offense should be able to get themselves on a solid track heading into Big East play. Her Hoop Stats has Stonehill as one of the 20 worst defensive teams in the country, and BartTorvik.com has them as literally the third worst defense in the country in terms of efficiency. Remember what I said about their strength of schedule a moment ago? Stonehill struggles to defend three-pointers both in terms of shooting percentage and rate they’re attempted, so it could be a game where MU takes advantage of some open looks. The Skyhawks don’t pester you into turnovers either, so that should help MU get into and stay in a solid flow on offense.