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Marquette played two decent periods and one halfway good period on Monday night against South Dakota, and at the end of that 30 minute stretch, the Golden Eagles were trailing the Coyotes by 11 points. Ok, maybe that's not the best thing ever, but it's not terrible.
Unfortunately, there's one more period to be played in a women's college hoops game, and that's where everything completely went to hell for Marquette. South Dakota outscored MU by 17 in the third quarter of their game as the Golden Eagles allowed USD to score 33 points in just 10 minutes and take a 22 point lead by the end of the third. That's essentially the explanation for Marquette losing the game by the final score of 97-69. The loss drops Marquette to 0-4 on the season, while USD's win in their home opener moves them to 1-3.
The Coyotes went on a 20-4 run to open the third quarter, including 15 straight across a span of more than four minutes. That's pretty much the ball game, and it was pretty much just South Dakota being better at basketball than Marquette. It wasn't a situation where the Golden Eagles kept throwing the ball away, as they committed just two turnovers in that opening stretch. The biggest part of the run was three different Coyotes hitting three pointers to push that lead open as fast as possible. South Dakota's three point shooting overall was a problem for the Golden Eagles, as USD shot 12-21 from behind the arc.
It wasn't all bad news for Marquette, as Natisha Hiedeman scored a game high 18 points on 7-15 shooting, including a very strong 4-9 from long range. Shantelle Valentine had 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and didn't commit a single foul along the way.
Up Next: Marquette's off until after Thanksgiving, and that's when they'll resume their search for their first win of the season. On Friday morning, they'll be in Florida to take on Florida International (1-2) as part of FIU's Turkey Slam. Depending on how that one goes, MU will either play Wichita State (0-3) or Richmond (4-0) on Sunday.