Marquette Women’s Basketball Runs Away From Xavier

All five starters scored in double digits as Marquette snagged an 85-61 victory over Xavier on Friday night at the McGuire Center. The Golden Eagles are now 5-2 in Big East action and 14-4 overall on the year, which matches their win total from all of last season.

It seemed like we might have an interesting contest after the first 20 minutes. The Golden Eagles took leads of 7-0 and 10-2 to start things off before the Musketeers reeled off 12 straight of their own to take the lead midway through the first quarter. Marquette popped off their own 12-0 run to retake control and it was 27-16 after one. McKayla Yentz got the lead back to 10 on a triple with 4:32 left in the second quarter.... and then Marquette did not score again for the rest of the half. Xavier went on their own two minute long drought in the middle of that, though, so Marquette’s lead was only three at the half.

Either Marquette got fired up in the second half or the wheels fell off for Xavier, because things got ugly in a hurry. MU scored four times in the first two minutes of the third quarter to jam the lead back to 11, and it quickly went to 17 on a layup by Allazia Blockton with 4:14 left in the frame. Raeshaun Gaffney answered Blockton’s bucket with a pair of free throws, and Xavier never got closer than 15 the rest of the game. Hell, they never got closer than 20 the entire fourth quarter. That includes after head coach Carolyn Kieger started turning things over to her bench with more than five minutes left.

You can have your choice of outstanding stat lines in this game. Allazia Blockton led all scorers with 19, and she chipped in seven rebounds and three assists as well. Erika Davenport posted her Big East best 10th double-double of the season on 13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. McKayla Yentz ripped it up from long range, going 3-7 behind the arc to get to 11 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Natisha Hiedeman scored 10 points in the opening frame for MU before finishing with 15 along with five rebounds and seven assists. Danielle King was a fireball, racking up a 12/3/5/3 line. Even Amani Wilborn had a nice game off the bench, finishing with 9/5/3 in 19 minutes.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and the Big East Digital Network?

Up Next: Not even a 48 hour turnaround for Marquette as they’ll host Butler at noon on Sunday. That one will be on FS1 for you out of towners. The Bulldogs are 5-12 on the season and 2-4 in Big East games after getting rolled by #21 DePaul on Friday night, 100-69.