Marquette Women’s Basketball Runs Away From Seton Hall

It’s not a surprise that Marquette got big performances from a bunch of players on Sunday afternoon at the McGuire Center, but what is a little surprising is the final margin. The Golden Eagles romped in this one, beating Seton Hall by a final score of 81-60. MU is now 3-2 in Big East play with three straight wins, putting them in a tie for fourth. The Pirates drop to 3-3 in the league after losing both games in their Lake Michigan tour.

The first half was a pretty good basketball game unto itself, and I don’t just say that because the Golden Eagles scored the last four points to put them up four, 38-34, at intermission. Seton Hall had scored the last seven points of the first quarter to lead by five after 10 minutes, so it was a good sign that Marquette was able to swing out of that and take a lead after the next 10 minutes was done.

It turns out that it was a very good sign of things to come. Marquette opened up the second half on a 20-5 run, capped off by and-1 buckets on consecutive possessions by freshman Camryn Taylor. It was actually a 13-0 run for the Golden Eagles, and a personal 8-0 run just for Taylor, as she was on her way to a game high and career high 23 points. That had Marquette up 20, 58-38, with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter. Credit where credit is due: Seton Hall didn’t buckle like a belt. By the time the horn sounded at the end of the quarter, Marquette’s lead had been whittled down to just 11 points.

The Pirates kept the skirmishes going, slashing their way to the rim and taking the wind out of Marquette’s sails. With 5:18 left in the game, Barbara Johnson scored two of her team high 20 points, and Marquette’s lead was down to just seven, 65-58. That’s a 20-7 run by the Pirates, but the fact that it took about nine minutes to transpire is what probably saved Marquette on this day.

That, and the fact that Seton Hall wouldn’t score again until there was less than a minute left.

Taylor was the answer to Johnson’s bucket to push the lead back to nine, then a pair of free throws from Altia Anderson. That was followed by a big three from Jordan King as Marquette was a bit rushed off of an inbound with just a few seconds left on the shot clock, a free throw by Taylor, and then another bucket in the lane by Taylor wrapped up a 10-0 run. The lead was back to 17, and Marquette was safe.

By that point, Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella had already thrown in the towel by pulling Big East preseason Player of the Year Shadeen Samuels off the floor, and MU’s Megan Duffy answered by emptying her bench. I don’t think Bozzella intended on his team gifting points to Claire Kaifes (two free throws), Destiny Strother, and Taylor Valladay (breakaway layups off turnovers), but they did, and thus MU won by 21.

Taylor led the way with not only her career day in the scoring department, but also a career high 11 rebounds to give her the first double-double of her collegiate career. Taylor also had two assists and a steal, and oh by the way, she did allllllll of this in just 25 minutes off the bench. Pretty fun, if I do say so myself.

Selena Lott followed up her big performance on Friday against St. John’s with a line of 19/8/6, while Altia Anderson had 11 points, five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a game high four steals.

Oh, and we can’t close out this recap without inserting this tweet from loyal reader and Friend Of The Show Erik, who is the one who pointed out the referee having to tell SHU head coach Tony Bozzella to 1) get of the floor and 2) get off the playing surface last in the second quarter.

Isn’t Erik just the best, y’all? Be more like Erik.

Up Next: After their first two home games since before Christmas, it’s time to head back out on the road for Marquette. Megan Duffy’s crew will be out in Indianapolis this coming Friday evening to face Butler before heading a wee bit southeast to face Xavier on Sunday afternoon. The Bulldogs are 3-2 in league play and have won three straight, while the Musketeers are 1-4 in conference action and snapped a 13 game losing streak by smashing Georgetown back on Friday night.