Marquette Women’s Basketball Clinches 3rd Place With Win Over Georgetown

Marquette women’s basketball fought through a lousy shooting night and a plethora of turnovers to defeat Georgetown on Friday night by a final score of 80-70. The win elevates the Golden Eagles to 21-7 overall and 12-5 in league play.

Combine MU’s victory with Villanova’s loss to DePaul and the Golden Eagles have clinched the #3 seed in the Big East tournament. In fact, with one set of games left to be played, seeds #3 through #6 are all locked in place, so we know that Marquette will play #6 seed Georgetown (what a coincidence) next Sunday at 2:30pm in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. If you hadn’t heard, the tournament is at the McGuire Center, so go get your tickets now. Or wait til after you finish reading this Whichever.

This was not an aesthetically pleasing game to watch. Of the eight combined offensive quarters (four for each team, natch), only three of them - Marquette in the first quarter and both teams in the third quarter - resulted in a field goal percentage of better than 45%. Four of the quarters involved a field goal percentage under 40%. Under. Forty. Percent.

Marquette ended up shooting just 42% for the game, but they had a few other things working in their favor. First, the Golden Eagles knocked down 41% of their threes in the game, powered by McKayla Yentz’s 5-for-7 performance, while Georgetown only sank two of their 14 long range attempts. Second, the Golden Eagles drastically outpaced the Hoyas in terms of free throws, getting to the line 28 times against just 11 for Georgetown. Third, Marquette did damage on the offensive glass. They wrapped up 34% of their own misses, led by seven (!) offensive rebounds by Erika Davenport, and those rebounds turned into 16 second chance points. You can have a rough time shooting it, but as long as you get a rebound or seven, you can balance that shooting percentage out a bit.

I could go on for a bit about how the game actually transpired, but it wouldn’t be that interesting. The two sides spent the first 21 minutes tilting back and forth regularly, earning six ties along the way. Marquette was able to build a 10 point lead late the third quarter on a layup by Natisha Hiedeman, but Georgetown answered with a 13-5 run bridging into the fourth quarter to turn it back into a two point game. A three-ball from Yentz pushed it back to a five point margin and kicked off a Marquette run where they outscored the Hoyas 14-6 over a nearly six minute long span. The lead was back to 10 after Davenport tacked on the free throw to her and-1 bucket, and Marquette was safe from there.

Dorothy Adomako had 21 points for Georgetown to lead all scorers, but it’s the diversity of contribution from Marquette that made the difference in this game. Check out these lines:

• Natisha Hiedeman: team high 18 points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block
• Allazia Blockton: 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists
• Erika Davenport: 14 points, game high 11 rebounds, two assists, and a steal
• McKayla Yentz: 14 points, seven rebounds, and a block
• Danielle King: nine points, nine rebounds, six assists
• Amani Wilborn: eight points, two rebounds, three assists

Sure am glad my job security doesn’t rely on coming up with ways to defend that kind of output.

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

Up Next: It’s time for the regular season finale! With their Big East tournament seeding locked into place, all Marquette will be doing is playing to keep their NCAA tournament profile in a solid place when they host Villanova on Sunday at 1pm Central. Be sure to show up early for a pregame ceremony honoring McKayla Yentz, MU’s only senior.