Kenzie Hare Shoots Marquette Past Holy Cross

My goodness, Kenzie Hare, have a night.

Heck, have a quarter. Whatever doubt was left in Friday night’s game between Marquette women’s basketball and Holy Cross was erased in a hurry as the freshman from Naperville, Illinois, hit a three on four of MU’s first six possessions in the fourth quarter and got sent to the line attempting another. Hare’s 12 shifted the margin from 52-39 Marquette to 65-47 Marquette with a little bit more than six minutes left, and the Golden Eagles could just glide it home for their second win of the year in as many attempts. Your final from the McGuire Center: Marquette 75, Holy Cross 55.

The fact that Marquette got to 75 points is a shock to anyone who watched the first half. The Golden Eagles led 15-14 at the end of the first quarter as Holy Cross closed the final 4:43 on an 8-0 run. If you thought that was lackluster, can I interest you in MU winning the second quarter 14-11? Yeah! It was just 29-25 at intermission, and neither side was averaging a point per possession, or even 0.90 per possession either.

There was a bunch of bucket trading to start the third quarter, and Holy Cross’ Lindsay Berger put one up and in to make it 38-33 Marquette with 5:39 left in the period. This was, to a certain extent, the last time that Holy Cross had a chance to win this game. Eight seconds later, Chloe Marotta was hurrying down the court for a bucket that goes in the book as fast break points for Marquette, and that kicked off a 9-0 run by the Golden Eagles that featured a pair of very nice looking mid-range jumpers from transfer Nia Clark. 47-33 Marquette with 3:10 to go off a jumper by — surprise — Kenzie Hare, and the lead would eventually settle on 13 at the end of the quarter after some free throws from HC’s Bronagh Power-Cassidy.

Janelle Allen, who had given Marquette all kinds of fits in the first half, scored for the first points of the fourth quarter as well as to trim the lead to 11, 52-41. 20 seconds later, Hare hit her first triple of the quarter. By the time she hit her fourth, and there was a trip to the line on a foul in there as well where she only went 1-for-3, Marquette was up 18, 65-47, with 6:27 to go. MU tacked on another bucket, one from Liza Karlen to make it a 20 point game for the first time on the night. Holy Cross would throw in a couple of shots to get it within 16, but the Golden Eagles emphatically closed the door, pushing the lead as high as 22 in the final couple of minutes before settling on that 20 point final margin.

Allen would lead all scorers with 20, probably helped along by Power-Cassidy getting held to just 15 minutes due to foul trouble in the first half. Hare and Karlen tied for the MU team lead with 18 points each. Hare gets the headline for the game changing run, but in terms of overall play, the trophy on the night goes to Karlen since she added five rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Chloe Marotta was the only other double digit scorer for Marquette, finishing with 10 points and adding eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and two steals to the night.

Jordan King had a very weird night particularly in light of her career high 24 points on Monday afternoon. She attempted just five shots, missing all of them and finishing with just one point picked up on a free throw. MU’s lead guard did have five rebounds and four assists along with a block and two steals, so it’s not like she was invisible out there... but she definitely seemed to not be interested in trying to score in this game.

If you’re tracking these kinds of things, Rose Nkumu started in place of Emily La Chapell in the only change to the starting five from Monday. Nkumu played 18 minutes, the least of MU’s five starters, if you’re trying to divine any kind of message from this..... it’s Game #2, let’s worry about this kind of thing later on.

We didn’t hear from Megan Duffy after the game about the status of Aizhanique Mayo as was promised after the game on Monday. Weird to be certain, but the fact that the freshman from Connecticut is no longer listed on the MU roster page on GoMarquette.com tells you the important information at the very least.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloHoops?

Up Next: Something of a short turnaround for Marquette here, as they’ll be back in action on Sunday afternoon. Milwaukee and their 1-1 record will wind their way over from the East Side for a tipoff set for 2pm Central time.