I arrived at the McGuire Center just a bit too late to catch the start of Marquette women’s basketball’s game against Georgetown on Saturday.
Due to some circumstances beyond my control, I got settled in my seat during the first-quarter media timeout.
At that point, Marquette was leading 14-6. It turned out Georgetown had just ended a 12-0 Marquette run right before the timeout. After the break, Marquette went on to score the next eight points.
That was a 20-2 run. With the score at 22-6, Marquette just had to maintain their lead for the rest of the game.
They did give up the last five points of the first quarter, but then they won the second quarter by three points and outscored Georgetown by 11 in the third. That’s better than just holding steady.
Even though Georgetown started the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, it didn’t really change much in the grand scheme of things.
The lead was still 16 points at 68-52. Marquette then outscored the Hoyas 7-6 for the final six minutes, and that was it.
The surprising part? Marquette wasn’t even playing at its best offensively. They finished the game shooting 55% from the field and a remarkable 67% from three-point range.
When they did get a shot up, it was likely to go in. But because Marquette committed 21 turnovers—just like Georgetown—they didn’t quite hit their usual average of one point per possession.
Despite this, they still won by 17 points thanks to their strong defense. In fact, you could argue that Marquette really stepped up on defense, as Kelsey Ransom scored 25 points on 21 shots, and Ariel Jenkins had 16 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.
Lee Volker led Marquette with 20 points, while Halle Vice added 19 and Skylar Forbes contributed 18.
Vice led the team in rebounds with eight, Volker had the most assists with six, and Forbes tied with Vice for the team-high in steals with three. Forbes also added four blocks for a well-rounded performance.
