Marquette hit for three points on four of their first five possessions - one each from from behind the arc for Gabi Minix, Sarina Simmons, and Arlesia Morse and a traditional three point play on a steal & fast break from Apiew Ojulu - and took a 14-3 lead after just 3:39 had elapsed. Marquette pushed the lead all the way to 20-3 after 7 minutes had been played and never looked back, cruising to a 93-44 victory over Iona.
I still haven't watched nearly enough basketball to be able to tell what's going on as it happens, but either Marquette had outstanding ball rotation all game long or Iona kept over pursuing on help defense. Not only were corner 3s open constantly, but even Golden Eagles on the weak side of the lane were open for easy layups and gimmes.
Four Golden Eagles reached double digits in points. Katherine Plouffe led the way with 20 and added 11 rebounds to the box score as well.
Let's go to the highlights!
Four Factors, Awards, and Whimsy after the jump!
Four Factors
eFG%: Marquette - 64.1% Iona 30.8%
Turnover%: Marquette - 26.2% Iona 26.3%
OReb: Marquette - 56.7% (FIFTY-SIX POINT SEVEN!) Iona - 27.3
FT Rate: Marquette - 21.9% Iona - 18.3%
Points Per Possession: Marquette - 1.28 Iona - 0.61
Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: If you can add 5 assists and 6 steals to a double-double in points and rebounds, you're living pretty well. This one goes to Katherine Plouffe for this game.
Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: Marquette kept it under 20 turnovers and won. Amazing how that works, huh? So we'll go with one of the Eagles who kept those turnovers low. Gabi Minix only had 1 TO in 30 minutes played and paired that with 11 assists as well.
Whimsy: An Open Letter to the Guy Waiting in the Corner of This Comic Book Shop by Haley Campbell (h/t to Neil Gaiman's Tumblr & John Hodgman's Twitter)