Danielle King led four Golden Eagles in double digits in points with 21 as Marquette left Providence in the dust for a 77-60 victory on Wednesday night. Marquette is now 5-0 in league play, making them the second team since The Reformation to open up Big East action with five straight wins after DePaul started 8-0 last season. Thanks to a St. John’s victory on Wednesday as well, MU’s lead in the Big East got a little bit better, as now only DePaul is one game back of the Golden Eagles at 4-1.
The final margin ended up looking lopsided, but that’s because the fourth quarter was. Marquette started the period out on a 16-4 run before closing it at 22-12 to make that final score look much healthier than the rest of the game. Marquette didn’t lead at all in the game until the 6:55 mark of the second quarter, and Providence had led by as many as seven points up until then. The Friars were buoyed all night by Jovana Nogic, who finished with a game high 24 points, with 10 of those coming in the first quarter as she opened the game connecting on four of her first five shots. Two of them came from behind the arc, which had to cause frustration on the Marquette sideline.
One year ago, Marquette got ransacked by Providence in Rhode Island, just days after picking up a major win over DePaul. The main reason for that was Nogic going completely wild, and it was a bad sign for the Golden Eagles to 1) leave her open after that performance against them and 2) leave her open given how well she’s played this season to this point. It didn’t last, though, as she shot just 4-for-12 the rest of the way.
Once Marquette took the lead, they didn’t quite run away with the game. The lead drifted up, and then a bit back, and then back up again. MU led by two possessions or more for most of the second quarter and almost all of the third, but Providence never quite went away, cutting the lead to as little as three with 2:13 left in the third period. The Friars’ turnover problem finally caught up with them, though, as they missed shots in the fourth quarter as Marquette started to pull away. MU finished having forced 24 PC turnovers on the night, with 19 of those empty Friar possessions coming in the first three quarters.
As mentioned, King led MU in scoring, and a career high in rebounds (17) along with 10 points from Erika Davenport helped pave the way to victory.
Up Next: Marquette is off until Friday night, when they return home to face Butler for the first time this season. Tip off is scheduled for 7pm at the McGuire Center.