Marquette 63, St. John's 55

Marquette (12-6) used a 14-4 run out of halftime to wrest the lead and control of the game away from St. John's (11-7) and held on to win, 63-55, on Sunday afternoon in Madison Square Garden. Katherine Plouffe led MU by posting a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Katie Young threw in 16 points off the bench and Arlesia Morse had 11.

The first half was tightly contested, with 4 ties and 9 lead changes. The half had wild swings as well, as just in the last 8 minutes, St. John's took a 6 point lead before Marquette swung it back to their side with a 5 point lead. St. John's went on an 8-0 run to close the half, helped out by 3 of Marquette's 23 turnovers. Nadirah McKenith was the beneficiary of MU's sloppy ball handling there, as she had 3 of St. John's buckets in that run.

In the second half, the 14-4 Marquette run to start planted control firmly on Marquette's side as they would slowly build the lead eventually to as high as 11. St. John's would cut it to just 4 with 2:12 remaining, but layups from Plouffe and Sarina Simmons kept the Red Storm from inching any closer.

The game raises Marquette and drops St. John's into a 5 way tie for 5th place in the Big East at 3-2.

After the jump: Four Factors, Awards, and Whimsy!

Four Factors:

eFG%: MU - 53.1% St. John's - 43.1%
TO%: MU - 34% St. John's - 24%
OReb: MU - 28.6% St. John's - 30.6%
FT Rate: MU - 24.5% St. John's - 13.8%

Points Per Possession: MU - 0.93 St. John's 0.82

Abbie Willenborg Player of the Game - Combine 4 of Marquette's 10 offensive rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Mix with a double-double. Shake well. Pour a well assembled Katherine Plouffe game and get a AWPOTG award.

Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle of the Game - With a few more games like this, Katie Young's going to disqualify herself from being undersung any more. 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting including 2-4 behind the arc in just 19 minutes. 0.84 points per minute is a hell of an efficient performance.

Whimsy - Archer returns on Thursday. Actually, that's not even really whimsy. You should really watch it.

Up Next: Georgetown in the Al McGuire Center tomorrow night on at 8pm. It'll also be broadcast on CBS Sports Network. I wonder how many times they'll replay Katie Young's buzzer beater from last week?