Marquette University
Syracuse
Marquette Women's Basketball Squeezed By The Orange
12/11/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 11, 1999
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Marquette women's basketball team could not overcome a lackluster opening 30 min'tes and dropped its second decision of the season this afternoon, falling to Syracuse 75-67. Despite Abbie Willenborg's fourth double-double, Marquette could not survive 28 turnovers and weak bench production, and sees its record fall to 7-2. The Orangewomen improve to 6-2.
"We weren't ready to play today," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We didn't have the focus to get it done. Twenty-eight turnovers is indicative of that."
Syracuse jumped on the Golden Eagles early, throwing a smaller, athletic lineup at the Golden Eagles and hitting four three-pointers in the first nine min'tes to build a 21-12 lead. The Orangewomen were also conscious of Lisa Oldenburg. Fresh off a 25-point, 15-rebounds performance against Wisconsin this past Wednesday, Oldenburg was 0-1 with no rebounds in the first half.
While Marquette stayed within striking distance by relying on Willenborg, who had nine points and four rebounds in the opening half, Syracuse rode the slight shoulders of Jaime James. The 5-6 sophomore guard terrorized Marquette on offense and tallied 15 of her 18 points in the first half to lead the Orangewomen into the break with a 34-23 lead.
While the Golden Eagles stopped James after the intermission, several other Orangewomen stepped up, with five players hitting double-digits for Syracuse. Tara Trammell and Beth Record caused the damage inside, with Trammell posting career-highs of 12 points and eight rebounds, and Record tossing in 18. They helped stake Syracuse to a seemingly insurmountable 17-point lead with 6:10 remaining. However, Marquette came alive for the first time all day over the waning min'tes of regulation, as Lisa Oldenburg got all 10 of her points in the second half, and Kristi Johnson made four of her game-high five threes in the final five min'tes to pull the Golden Eagles as close as four points in the final min'tes. But it wasn't enough, as Syracuse made 9-10 free throws in the final two min'tes to seal the win.
"We finally followed the game plan in the last 10 min'tes, but it was too late," Mitchell said. RItUs a tough lesson to learn. If we would have done it from the beginning, we would have had a chance. Now weUll never know."
Willenborg paced Marquette with 20 points and 11 boards. Johnson added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Kiesha Oliver tossed in 13. Marquette got only four points and four rebounds from its reserves.
Jakia Ervin scored 11 and had 10 assists for Syracuse, which also got 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench from Shannon Perry.
The Golden Eagles get a well-deserved break during finals week before hitting the court again on Sat., Dec. 18, when they host Arkansas State in the Milwaukee Arena at 7 p.m. (CT).
