The longest run of the game for YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles women's basketball game in their season opener on Monday night was the only one they needed to take control of the game. After buckets for both sides in the opening two minutes, Halle Vice converted a layup to kick off an 11-0 run by the Golden Eagles. 13-2 Marquette, and that was, effectively, that.
Yes, MU was only up 17-8 at the end of the first quarter after an and-1 for I'Xana Winters with four seconds left, so there was some mystery left in the bag. Kayl Petersen and Vice opened up the scoring in the second quarter to put Marquette up 13, and the lead was never in single digits again. A triple from Petersen with 1:48 left before the half moved the margin to 20 for the first time, and Petersen hit a fadeaway at the horn to make it 26, 39-13, at intermission.
MacKenzie Givens got the bucket to get the lead to 30 for the first time, scoring in transition to make it 46-15 with 8:17 left in the third. The biggest margin of that quarter was 35, and some late scoring from the Golden Eagles got the differential to its peak of 38, which is where it ended at 80-42.
The closest this got to drama after those Petersen and Vice buckets in the second quarter was when MVSU scored back to back buckets in the first 45 seconds of the fourth quarter. MU head coach Cara Consuegra was FURIOUS at what had transpired to lead to the two buckets, called timeout, and audibly hollered "GET OVER HERE. SIT DOWN." at the five women on the floor. None of the five were Halle Vice or Jordan Meulemans, which is probably part of the problem for the Golden Eagles. Those are the only two returning rotation players for Marquette this year with everyone else coming in as 1) a little used bench option last year, 2) a transfer, 3) a freshman, or 4) coming off an injury last year and not dressing to play here. There were always going to be rough patches as this team comes together, and this was one of them. In this case, all it did was drift the lead under 30 points.
By the way: Marquette fumbled the ensuing inbounds after the timeout. Ever seen a college basketball coach literally facepalm during a game? I have.
The good news on the day: Halle Vice was awesome, as hoped for/expected. 17 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, a block, and two steals in just 24 minutes, and who knows what she would have done if she played more towards 30 minutes in a slightly more competitive game.
The bad news on the day: 25 turnovers for the team, which works out to 31% of Marquette's possessions in the game. None of this mattered while the Golden Eagles shot 36% on three-pointers and 51% on twos. None of the MU turnovers mattered while MVSU shot 21.2% from the field for the game. But against a different team on a different day (glances at Saturday's opponent), maybe it does.
Good performances in debuts: Kinley Asp, Kayl Petersen, and MacKenzie Givens all started for Marquette in their first games here. Asp had six rebounds and five assists, although she had five of MU's turnovers, too. Petersen had 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two blocks. Givens went for a not great 14 points because she was just 5-for-11 from the field. I felt like she was struggling with her shot for a while in the first half, and then I realized she had seven points and that's fine then. Yu Han Lin was MU's last double digit scorer, getting 14 in her Marquette debut on 4-for-8 shooting, including 2-for-5 (40%!) behind the three-point line. She also had five turnovers, which we noted as a problem during her year at Middle Tennessee, and she was called for at least one completely atrociously obvious offensive foul for a push off in transition with the defender well in front of her trying to get back. 1) It was an obvious foul, 2) Lin complained about it to the referee. I think I may have identified her turnover problem from last year. Amina Traore came off the bench for 20 minutes, and went 1-for-4 from the field, which is not great…. but her 11 rebounds are AWESOME, same for her two assists and the steal as well.
How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+?
Up Next:I mentioned it, so yeah: Preseason #17 Minnesota comes to town on Saturday. Tipoff at the McGuire Center is set for 2pm Central time, and ESPN+ will have the broadcast. The Golden Gophers started their season on Monday evening with an 82-62 victory over Harvard.
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