Marquette's women's basketball team improves to 5-4 on the season with a 48 point drubbing of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-6) with a final score of 84-36.
Every active player on the roster contributed at least 4 points to the scoring, led by Arlesia Morse with 19. Sarina Simmons led the team in rebounding with 10 on her way to a double-double with 10 points as well. None of the Lady Lions broke double digits in points, although Chigozi Okwumabua came the closest with 9.
Notes:
- After returning to the starting lineup against UW-Green Bay, Sarina Simmons was again relegated to a bench role in favor of Cristina Bigica. The knee brace Simmons wore against UW-GB was gone, though.
- Bigica almost immediately reminded everyone that she's a freshman, as Gabi Minix had to literally yank her back towards the baseline in MU's 2-3 zone on UA-PB's first possession. As I told @go_marquette on Twitter after the game, the freshmen look like freshmen who are being forced to contribute while acclimating to college.
- I don't know if it's part of the reason why Simmons hasn't started two games, but at around the 14:45 mark of the first half, Terri Mitchell shouted something to her while Simmons was at midcourt waiting for Pine Bluff to inbound the ball. I can't speak to how much Simmons was listening as she was paying attention to defenders around her while trying to look at Terri, but Terri immediately turned and sent Morse to the scorer's table to check in for her.
- Marquette got a lot more comfortable in the second half as they started to display a few more highlight film plays: First, Arlesia Morse snagged a steal and threw the "Just Run Under It" pass to Katherine Plouffe for the easy lay in just after the 9 minute mark and about 2 minutes later, Gabi Minix turned a baseline drive into a no-look pass to Apiew Ojulu in the lane for the easy 2.
- Some of the men's team was in attendance, although they left shortly before halftime, and since they headed into the tunnel towards their locker room, I presume it was for practice. Vander Blue and Jae Crowder looked particularly resplendent in the pelts of their enemies from the day before, as both had on red hoodies.
- A quick tip for anyone who gets chosen to participate in basketball related time out contests: If the contest allows you to take a layup as the basket needed to seal your win, don't start shooting jumpers because you have a huge lead, even if the Golden Eagle mascot is "playing defense" on you. You will not win.
Who wants highlights?
After the jump: Four Factors, Awards, and Whimsy!
Four Factors:
eFG%: Marquette - 56.4% UAPB - 25.5%
TO%: Marquette - 25.9% UAPB - 39.2%
OReb: Marquette - 53.6% UAPB - 44.7%
FT Rate: Marquette - 87.2% UAPB - 45.3%
Points Per Possession: Marquette - 1.21 UAPB - 0.50
Abbie Willenborg Player Of The Game: 18 turnovers is less than the season average, but probably way too many for a 48 point blowout of a SWAC team. So we're going to go with the only player to not turn the ball over, Cristina Bigica. She also had 5 points, 3 rebounds, an assist and 2 steals.
Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle Of The Game: Let's stay with the freshmen and give this one to Apiew Ojulu. 9-13 from the foul line, and 4 offensive rebounds to get Ojulu to 11 and 5 for the game. Quiet, but important.
Whimsy: The top 15 Unseen Characters on TV.
Up Next: Believe it or not, the Big East season gets underway as Marquette heads to South Bend to take on Notre Dame (7-1) on Wednesday evening.