Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Cincinnati
Cincinnati Defeats MU Women's Basketball, 63-53
2/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2002
MILWAUKEE - Valerie King and K.B. Sharp both scored 17 points and Tammy Douglass added 10 points as 25-ranked Cincinnati defeated Marquette, 63-53. The win improves Cincinnati's record to 20-4 and 8-3 in Conference USA standings. Marquette falls to 14-10 overall and 7-4 in the league. The Golden Eagles' were led by Rashida Gales, who had 12 points.
"I thought we were much better offensively tonight," said Bearcat head coach Laurie Pirtle. "I like how our team believed in each other and the coaching staff. The kids really responded and made good decisions tonight."
The Bearcats had a 12-point lead with 13 minutes left in the game, but Marquette went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to five at 42-37 with 10 minutes remaining. However, Cincinnati responded with 8-1 run of it's own to increase the Bearcats' lead to 12. Sharp had four points and an assists in the run. The Bearcats eventually upped their lead to 15 with just over a minute to play. Sharp had six points in the final two minutes to help expand the Bearcats lead. UC held Marquette's leading scorer, Rachel Klug, scoreless in the second half.
"As a coach, I always believe we can pull a game out," said Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell. "We played confident basketball and were aggressive during our run and changed the game. But then Cincinnati made the run on us. What we did in the second half is what we had to do to win the game."
The first half belonged to the Bearcats as they raced to a 35-21 advantage at the break. Cincinnati was hot in the first 20 minutes, hitting 46 percent of its shots, off setting Marquette's run to start the game. The Golden Eagles were hitting 50 percent of their shots in the first six minutes of the game, but could do no better than evening the score at 10.
Douglass led the Bearcats in scoring in the first half with eight points. Marquette's Rachel Klug matched that total at the break.
After scoring 17 points tonight, King needs 25 points to score her 1,000th career point. UC joins Duke as one of only two schools in the country that has both its men's and women's programs with at least 20 wins.
The Golden Eagles will play their final home contest on Sunday, Feb. 17 against Louisville at 2 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Arena.
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