Marquette University
BYU
Women's Basketball Survives BYU Three-Point Barrage
12/6/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 1999
MILWAUKEE - Kristi Johnson hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds left to give Marquette the lead for good and Abbie Willenborg added a free throw to ice the Marquette women?s basketball team?s 74-71 victory over Brigham Young tonight in the Bradley Center. Willenborg led the Golden Eagles with 21 points and 10 rebounds, her third straight double-double, and Marquette survived an onslaught of Cougar three-pointers to win its fifth consecutive win and improve to 6-1. BYU loses its second game of the season and falls to 5-2.
?BYU is a very good ball club, and I wouldn?t be surprised to see them in the NCAA (Tournament) at the end of the season,? Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. ?But tonight, once again, you could see our experience. We came up with several big steals, big stops and then KJ with that big three at the end.?
As it has in several games this season, Marquette built several seemingly comfortable leads throughout the contest, only to surrender the lead late in the second half. The Golden Eagles went up by nine late in the opening half behind Willenborg, who was 4-5 from the field in the opening half. However, BYU stayed in the contest with its weapon of choice: the three-point shot. Junior forward Cady Williams took eight in the first 20 minutes, hitting three, and center Jill Adams connected on 2-5 three-point tries and had 12 points to pull the Cougars within six, 34-28, at the intermission.
The Cougars continued their long-range bombing after the break and, behind four second-half threes from freshman point guard Erin Thorn, took its first lead of the game, 53-50, with 9:59 remaining. A surging Lisa Oldenburg, who had seven of her nine points in the second half, staked MU to a 67-58 at 3:59 left, but BYU climbed back into the game with a 13-3 run to take a one-point lead with 1:14 left. Neither team scored for the next minute, but Johnson used BYU?s best weapon against the, draining a deep three-pointer from the right wing with 14 seconds on the clock. The final of Willenborg?s team-high 21 points put Marquette up by three, and Adams? desperation three-point heave at the buzzer fell well short.
?I like the confidence (Kristi) had in taking that shot,? Mitchell said. ?She didn?t hesitate and a lot of that comes from the experience from starting every game last season as a freshman. I asked her earlier today to look for her shot. She did.?
Despite a poor performance from the free-throw line, including missing seven of eight attempts in the final 2:32, the Golden Eagles were hot from behind the arc, hitting a season-high eight threes, and allowed the Cougars to get to the line only five times. Johnson and Kiesha Oliver each contributed 13 points, while Sarah Zawodny was strong off the bench again with eight points. The Golden Eagles only committed nine turnovers. Adams led BYU with a game-high 24 points, while Thorn had 17.
The Golden Eagles are back in the Milwaukee Arena on Wed., Dec. 8, when they host cross-state rival Wisconsin at 7 p.m. (CT).
MARQUETTE 74, BRIGHAM YOUNG 71
BRIGHAM YOUNG (5-2)
Osguthorpe 3-5 0-0 8, Cuff 0-1 0-0 0, Adams 9-16 3-3 24, Thorn 6-13 1-2 17, Williams 4-14 0-0 11, Hayes 0-0 0 0 0, Hansen 0-0 0-0 0, Griffeth 0-3 0-0 0, Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Leitner 5-6 0-0 1, Beus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 4-5 71.
MARQUETTE (6-1)
Oldenburg 3-7 3-3 9, Bowman 3-6 0-0 7, Willenborg 7-11 5-9 21, Johnson 4-6 2-4 13, Oliver 5-9 2-4 13, Klug 0-1 0-0 0, Gales 1-2 0-0 3, Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Seffern 0-1 0-0 0, Zawodny 3-5 2-3 8. Totals 26-51 14-23 74.
Halftime_ Marquette 34, BYU 28. 3-point goals_BYU 13-31 (Osguthorpe 2-2, Adams 3-8, Thgorn 4-9, Williams 3 8, Griffeth 0-3, Leitner 1-1), Marquette 8-14 (Oldenburg 0-1, Bowman 1-2, Willenborg 2-2, Johnson 3-4, Oliver 1 2, Gales 1-2, Williams 0-1). Rebounds_BYU 30 (Adams 6), Marquette 28 (Willenborg 10). Assists_BYU 24 (Thorn 8), Marquette 19 (Oliver 7). Turnovers_BYU 12, Marquette 9. Fouled out_None. Total fouls_BYU 20, Marquette 9. Att_406.
