By the time I got home from the men's game against Villanova, Marquette's women's squad was down 64-42 to Creighton with just over 11 minutes left in the game. So given the time constraints involved, you can see how I wasn't terribly fired up about turning on the Creighton streaming audio for the game.
So, after the game, I opened up the box score on GoMarquette.com. Two things jumped out at me.
- Creighton must have done a number on Katherine Plouffe. The senior forward finished with eight points on 2-8 shooting. She still had a respectable seven rebounds, though.
- Katie Young played five minutes.
Ok, so there's a few possible explanations for what happened here. First, an explanation of how Young accrued those five minutes. She started as usual, and after making three of five free throws, she subbed out at the 15:21 mark with Creighton up 14-11.. Young returned at 12:05 after the deficit had ballooned to seven, split a pair of free throws, then subbed back out at 11:28, with Creighton's lead up to eight points. She would not return after that point, and Creighton pushed the lead past 10 less than four minutes later and never looked back.
So, that seems an awful lot like "got hurt, went to the bench, tried to play, couldn't, game got out of control, stayed on the bench." But there's nothing in the official Marquette recap. There's nothing in @MarquetteWBB's tweets from the game. There's nothing in the Creighton recap. There's nothing in @CreightonWBB's tweets from the game. It would seem to me that if one of the Big East's top 10 scorers and top five rebounders gets hurt and can't return to the game, this should be something that someone should mention somewhere.
The horrible other possibility is that Young did something to piss off head coach Terri Mitchell and got benched. I have a hard time believing this one, as Young's only impact on the box score was her six free throw attempts. She wasn't charged with one of Marquette's 15 turnovers, so unless she was just letting Marissa Janning or Brianna Rollerson go past her for their layups while she was in the game, I really can't see that being the case.
Anyway.
Marquette's Big East record falls to 4-3 (T-4th), while Creighton improves to 6-2 (T-2nd).
Abbie Willenborg Player of the Game: So, with Plouffe stifled and Young on the bench, someone had to step up. Apiew Ojulu led Marquette in scoring, but didn't grab a rebound in 21 minutes. On the other hand, Lauren Tibbs had six points, eight rebounds (three offensive), three assists and a block, all in just 13 minutes. Now THAT'S making excellent use of your time.
Clare Barnard Undersung Eagle of the Game: With as badly and as quickly as this one cratered, there's not a lot to get excited about from supporting players. Without any better options, I'll say Katie Young for proving her worth while not in the game, and move on.
Up Next: Getting blasted on the road by one of the teams ahead of Marquette in the standings was not a good way to go to get prepared for the next game on the schedule. On Wednesday night, Marquette heads south on I-94 to tangle with DePaul. The Blue Demons are also currently in front of Marquette in the standings.