Marquette Women's Basketball Weekend Preview: at Georgetown & at Villanova

Marquette fell to 4-8 on the season when they dropped their Big East opener to Xavier on Tuesday night.  The Golden Eagles got into an early 12-2 hole and had to spend almost the entire rest of the game battling their way back to a tie before eventually losing by 3.

It's a pattern that we've seen in MU's last three losses: fall into an early hole, make it close, never fully overcome the margin.  In their win against Vanderbilt, the biggest win of the year for the Golden Eagles, it was exactly the opposite.  They jumped on the Commodores early and maintained that advantage for the remainder of the contest.  I don't know what head coach Carolyn Kieger has to do to get her troops ready and raring from the word go, but it's clear that something's been lacking as of late, generally speaking.

One thing Marquette needs to get settled is how they're attacking things on the offensive end.  After the disastrous 1-10 outing against the Musketeers on Tuesday, Marquette is only shooting 26% behind the three point line.  Tia Elbert is the only player with a claim at being a decent shooter at 34% on the season, with Arlesia Morse trailing slightly behind at just under 33%.  Elbert is on the plus side of 50% in eFG%, while Morse is just barely below.  No one else on the team is hitting more than 30% of their three point attempts, which is a serious problem for the team.

Big East Game #2: at Georgetown (2-11, 0-1 Big East)

When: Friday, January 2, 2015, at 6:30pm Central
Where: McDonough Arena in Washington, D.C.
Audio/Visual: Fox Sports 1 picks up the broadcast for this one, plus live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB

Like Marquette, Georgetown suffered a loss in their first Big East game on Tuesday night.  Creighton jumped out to a 31-11 lead in the first half against the Hoyas.  It was a 15 point lead at the break, but Georgetown scored the first 10 points after intermission to make things interesting, but ultimately the Jays used their home court advantage to hold on for the win.

It was the 10th straight loss for the Hoyas, who are 2-3 at home this season.  Georgetown is 1-9 all time against Marquette, and they've never beaten the Golden Eagles in McDonough in six tries.

Freshman guard Dorothy Adomako leads the Hoyas in scoring and rebounding at 11.1 and 7.2 a game respectively.  At 6'1", she's got great size for a guard, but she doesn't have a great shooting touch.  She's shooting just 32.9% from the field while taking the most shots on the team, but she doesn't bury the team with bad threes, as she's only taken 15 of those all year.  Junior guard Katie McCormick is the team's best three point shooter, but she's barely an efficient shooter at 34.8% behind the arc.  Justyce Swango is also a freshman guard, and she leads the team in assists at 2.7 per game.

Big East Game #3: at Villanova (5-7, 0-1 Big East)

When: Sunday, January 4, 2015, at 12pm Central
Where: The Pavilion in Villanova, PA
Audio/Visual: Paid video via Villanova.com, plus live stats.
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB

Villanova already got their Big East schedule started earlier in December, so instead of league action on Tuesday, they hosted North Carolina State at the Pavilion.  The Wildcats shot 15-32 behind the arc en route to a 74-65 win over the Wolfpack.  Freshman guard Alex Louin did the most damage, coming off the bench to hit on six of her seven attempts from distance en route to a game high 20 points.

It was obviously a hot night for Louin, but she is the team's most accurate sniper, splashing in 43% of her three point attempts.  It was an irregular night for Villanova overall, as they only shoot 33% behind the arc as a team.

Senior forward Emily Leer and junior guard Caroline Coyer are the only Wildcats that average over 10 points a game, but Leer's only appeared in four games this season, including the win over NCSU.  Katherine Coyer, Caroline's twin sister made just her 7th appearance of the season on Tuesday as well.  Senior forward Taylor Holeman leads VU in rebounding, averaging 5.8 caroms per contest.