All Your Rebounds Belong to Plouffe: Marquette 63, Indiana State 61

First off: told y'all I was having the better basketball season as a fan of the Lady Golden Eagles.

Yes, I am well aware that there is no such thing as a Lady Golden Eagle unless you are a fan of Southern Mississippi, but apparently the broadcasting team for Indiana State did not read their media packets.  That fact that was also evident as they butchered Brooklyn Pumroy's last name as well as both of Arlesia Morse's and Apiew Ojulu's names.

But I get the luxury of teeing off on the Sycamore voice team instead of your Golden Eagles because in the end, Marquette managed to eke out a 63-61 victory over Indiana State.  In spite of going 2 of 11 from three point land, in spite of the 16 turnovers, in spite of getting into foul trouble in the second half: the Golden Eagles advanced to face Indiana in the second round of the Women's NIT.

There was a lot to be frustrated about on Thursday night as Marquette was unable to pull away from a team that shot less than 30 percent from the field.  The Sycamores only managed to hang around in the first half by going 6 of 15 from behind the arc and the game was tied at 28 apiece going into halftime.  Somehow (fouls) the game stayed close even though ISU found a way to get even colder expect when shooting free throws.

Meanwhile, Katherine Plouffe took advantage of Indiana State's terrible shooting to put up a record setting night: she hauled in 26 rebounds for a new single game high for the women's program and a WNIT game record.

Plouffe finished the night with 19 points for her 14th double-double of the season, added 3 blocks, and scored the winning points by sinking two late free throws when the Sycamores started fouling as the clock ran down.  While Jasmine Grier drained a three to pull ISU within 2 with 4 seconds left and Marquette bobbled the ball on the inbound, the Sycamores were unable to get off a last second shot.

Katie Young, Chelsie Butler, and Pumroy also finished with double digit points.  The win is Marquette's first in the post-season since Terri Mitchell's crew upset Texas to reach the round of 32 in the 2011 NCAA tournament.

Up Next: Indiana at Bloomington on Saturday at 6pm.  The Lady Hoosiers (Hoosierettes?) squeaked past Belmont 48-47 in their opening WNIT game.  I'm assuming that Indiana scored the hosting gig since the NCAA tournament will still be in full swing in the Bradley Center on Saturday.

Indiana improved to 19-12 on the season after defeating Belmont.  They finished 5-11 in conference play "good enough" for 8th in the Big Ten.   Freshman Larryn Brooks leads the Hoosiers offense averaging 15.4 points a game.

The Marquette and Indiana women last played each in 2006 when the Golden Eagles prevailed in a WNIT match.