Women’s Basketball Holds The High Ground Against NJIT

Three Golden Eagles scored in double digits and two more missed out on a double-double as Marquette women’s basketball zipped past NJIT, 90-58, on Friday night. MU is now 2-0 on the season.

Marquette jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead before NJIT asserted themselves and turned the first quarter competitive.... right up until the Golden Eagles ripped off 11 straight points over the final four minutes to be up 22-10 at the end of the period. Super senior Karissa McLaughlin was the only player to score twice in the run with sophomore Danyel Middleton closing out the frame with a bucket. MU got the first four points of the second quarter to stake themselves to a 16 point lead after just over 11 minutes of action.

That was pretty much that for this game. A triple from McLaughlin pushed the lead over 20 with 4:44 left in the second quarter and the first half margin crested at 25 points before settling at 19 thanks to a buzzer beater from NJIT’s Maddie Martin.

The Highlanders scored the first two buckets of the second half, prompting a timeout from MU’s Megan Duffy. That timeout then prompted a 7-0 Marquette run featuring two buckets from Lauren Van Kleunen, one of the and-1 variety, and thus the lead was back over 20. It hit 25 at one point again, but by the end of the third quarter, NJIT had kept Marquette exactly where they were at halftime: 19 points ahead, 66-47.

Marquette started off the fourth on an 8-2 run to get that 25 point lead back. They then spent the rest of the period up at least 20 and pushing it into the 30s by the final horn. A nice easy victory in game #2, and if the coaching staff wants to look at this way, Marquette won three of the four quarters and tied in the other one. Not a bad outing all around.

Karissa McLaughlin continues to impress, going for 22 points on 8-for-16 shooting including a very successful 4-for-8 performance from long distance. McLaughlin yet again propped up Marquette’s entire three-point shooting on the night as the rest of the Golden Eagles went just 1-for4 and that one came in the first quarter from Chloe Marotta. McLaughlin added two rebounds, four assists, and two steals to her night. She was joined in double digit town by Lauren Van Kleunen, who fought through five turnovers to get to 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, as well as Marotta, who just missed a triple-double on 11 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. Liza Karlen missed a double-double on nine points and 10 rebounds, while Kennedi Myles missed as well on 11 rebounds to go with five points in 22 minutes off the bench.

Rose Nkumu made her season debut here, playing 11 minutes and adding two points and a rebound to the proceedings. Still no Nirel Lougbo or Claire Kaifes, both of whom were in warmups all game long.

Wanna watch some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and MUTV?

Up Next: Marquette has one final tune up type game in front of them before things ramp up. The Golden Eagles will host Southern University on Monday, and that one is a noon start at the McGuire Center for whatever reason. The Jaguars are 0-1 on the year after losing 92-32 to #23 Texas A&M on Thursday night.