Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Southern Miss
Women's Basketball Pounds Out Win
2/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2000
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Marquette women's basketball team withstood a red-hot Southern Miss squad and went 27-41 from the free throw line tonight in earning a hard-fought 95-86 victory over Southern Miss in Reed Green Coliseum tonight. Lisa Oldenburg led four Golden Eagles in double figures with 27 points as Marquette scored a season-high 95 points in improving to 17-4 overall and 9-1 in Conference USA. Angela Atterberry had the hot-hand for Southern Miss, hitting five second-half threes on her way to 27 points. USM falls to 10-11, 4-6.
"I'm extremely proud of what we did tonight," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell sid. "We were on in the first half, but when everything wasn't going in during the second half, we kept our heads and stuck with the game plan. Southern Miss wouldn't let us get any runs with all those threes, but we stuck with what we know: getting the ball inside."
A fast-paced first half saw both teams filling up the hoop. Marquette finished the half with a 57% percentage from the field, while Southern Miss shot 46% from the floor. The teams combined to make their first seven shots of the game, and 10-11 in the opening minutes. Jessica Woods led USM, tallying eight of its first 10 points and finishing the half with 10. Heidi Bowman rediscovered her stroke for Marquette, hitting three treys on her way to 11 points, while Lisa Oldenburg went 5-8 for 11.
Kiesha Oliver and Kristi Johnson joined the first-half bombing for Marquette, which opened a 15-point margin with under eight minutes to play. However, Southern Miss stayed within striking distance by winning the battle of the boards (21-15) and getting three three-pointers from Kim Young. Marquette did take an eight-point lead into the intermission.
Marquette cooled off slightly after the break, but Southern Miss continued hit from long range. Led by Atterberry's five, USM hit nine threes in the final 20 minutes and took a 62-61 lead with 11:07 remaining. However, the Golden Eagles once again turned to Oldenburg and Abbie Willenborg.
Oldenburg finished with seven boards to go along with her 27 and Willenborg tallied 18 points and seven boards. Additionally, Sarah Zawodny tossed in nine as Marquette controlled the points in the paint 61 29. Marquette also had the option of Bowman, who added a season-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Kristi Johnson added 11 points, four rebounds and four assist.
"We had a lot of weapons tonight," Mitchell said. "We worked the ball around well and got good shots. We have re-committed ourselves for these final three weeks - we took care of work last week at home and are off to a good start on this trip."
Woods concluded the game with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Atterberry also notched a double-double with 11 rebounds. Angela Johnson dished out 11 assists for USM.
The Golden Eagles stay in the deep south on Sat., Feb. 5, when they battle the nationally-ranked Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. (CT), and the game will be carried live by espn2.
