Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
DePaul
Women's Basketball Drops C-USA Opener to DePaul
1/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2003
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MILWAUKEE - Marquette's 10-game winning streak at the Bradley Center ended with a 62-57 loss to Conference USA rival DePaul. It was the C-USA opener for both teams.
Marquette opened up a seven point lead twice in the second half. Sophomore Katie Alsdurf's lay up with 11:04 in the second half put Marquette up seven. DePaul came back and took the lead on a Laura Sobiesczyk three pointer with 8:24 in the second half.
A 10-2 run that was capped off by an Alsdurf lay up put the Golden Eagles up seven with 3:37 in the game. Marquette led 55-48 at that point, but that would be the last field goal for Marquette as DePaul rattled off 11 straight points and kept Marquette scoreless in the last 2:51 of the game.
"I'm upset with our basketball team right now because I believe in them more than they believe in themselves," said head coach Terri Mitchell. "We need to understand that we are a good team and not get tentative like we did today. We got tentative and soft, that is where my problem is."
The Golden Eagles received a spark off the bench from sophomore Lesley Juedes who scored 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the three-point line.
"We have been expecting that from Lesley all year," said Mitchell. "We hope that this was her breakout game. She is very capable of doing that on a regular basis."
Bench scoring was key for the Blue Demons as Khara Smith came in to score 22 points on 9-11 shooting from the field.
"She had her way in the paint," Mitchell said of Smith. "We certainly talked about her, but she took up a lot of room. She was aggressive and hit some big buckets. They have a good combination of finesse and strength."
The two teams played evenly in the first half as neither team led by more than four points. Despite shooting 28 percent (7-25) in the first half, Marquette only trailed by four points. The difference came at the free throw line where Marquette hit six of seven while DePaul only connected on one free throw in the first half.
Marquette's leading scorer was senior Rachel Klug who had 14 points. Klug also added a team high eight rebounds. Khara Smith led the way for DePaul.
Marquette returns to action Friday, Jan. 17 when it hosts South Florida at the Wisconsin Lutheran Field House in Wauwatosa, Wis. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
