Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Wisconsin
Women's Basketball Downs Badgers, 72-54
1/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2003
MADISON, Wis. -- The Marquette women's basketball team finished its two game road trip with a resounding 72-54 victory against intrastate rival Wisconsin. Marquette improved their record to 8-3 on the season and has won six in a row away from the U.S. Cellular Arena.
The Golden Eagles got off to a hot start behind the shooting of junior Kelly Schwerman and freshman Carolyn Kieger. Schwerman keyed a 10-0 run that put Marquette up 18-8. Schwerman and Kieger took turns hitting three-pointers in the run, with Schwerman hitting two. Marquette went up by as many as 14 points in the first half.
"Runs are important," said Schwerman. "We hit a couple of shots that gave us confidence and a momentum."
Kieger led all scorers with 17 points on 6-7 shooting while Schwerman ended up with 13.
Marquette shot a season high 59.3 percent (16-27) in the first half. Eleven of those baskets came off of Golden Eagle assists.
The second half brought much of the same hot shooting for the Golden Eagles. Sophomore Katie Alsdurf nailed consecutive three-pointers that was followed by another Scherman three-pointer that put Marquette up 49-33 and forced a Wisconsin timeout. Alsdurf finished the game with 16 points.
Three-point shooting was the key to the game as Marquette set a single game record for three-point percentage in shooting 72.7 percent (8-11).
"We took our time with our shots and when they were there, we knocked them down," said head coach Terri Mitchell who beat Wisconsin for the first time since December 9, 1999.
The Golden Eagles turned up their defense in the second half. Allowing just eight Wisconsin field goals on 23 shots (34.8 percent) and forcing nine turnovers.
"We did a good job of pressuring them," said Kieger. "On defense, it isn't just one of individuals, it is a team thing. We went at them and it worked."
The Badgers didn't connect on a field goal for the first seven minutes of the second half when Lello Gebisa hit a basket. Gebisa, Stephanie Rich and Ashley Josephson all had eleven points for Wisconsin.
"We knew they had size and we had to change our defense constantly," said Mitchell. "We need to do that because of our size detriment."
Marquette returns home on Wednesday for the first of back-to-back games against ranked teams when it faces No. 21 Wis.-Green Bay at the U.S. Cellular Arena at 7 p.m.
Notes: For just the second time in the history of the rivalry, the Marquette women and men both beat Wisconsin. In 1977, the Marquette men defeated the Wisconsin men 73-58 on Feb. 21 and the Marquette women defeated the Wisconsin women 71-60 on Mar. 5. "It's a big in-state rival," said Kieger. "You want to be up for a game like this." ... Kieger improved her three-point shooting to 15-26 (57.7 percent) on the season ... Marquette improved to 7-1 when outrebounding their opponent ... Senior Rachel Klug recorded her second double-double of the season (10 points, 10 rebounds) ... Marquette had 17 assists today and is averaging 19 over the last two games.
