Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Louisville
MU Hits 12 Threes in 79-76 win over Louisville
2/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2003
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LOUISVILLE - Marquette used the long ball to defeat Louisville in a key Conference USA matchup, 79-76. The Golden Eagles hit 12 three pointers and Kelly Schwerman hit the most important three to put MU up 79-76 with 20 seconds to play. MU improves to 14-10 and is 6-6 in C-USA play. Louisville drops to 14-10 and is 5-6 in league play.
Marquette hit three-pointers on back to back possessions to quickly regain a lead that Louisville enjoyed only momentarily. Alsdurf hit her fourth three of the game and Katie O'Grady followed it up with a three of her own to put MU up 69-65 with 4:38 to play. Schwerman's three pointer put Marquette up for good. Schwerman had 16 points, 15 coming on threes. MU hit 12-of-20 three point attempts, including 8-of-9 in the second half.
"We've been working on the three pointer when tired," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "Our work on that came through today. Kelly Schwerman's three pointer was huge. That's an upperclassman stepping up in a pressure situation."
Marquette led by as many as six to open up the second half. Carolyn Kieger scored seven quick points out of the half and Alsdurf landed a three pointer to put Marquette up 46-40 with 16:13 left in the period. MU was able to hold off any Louisville rally and benefitted from some turnovers in transition to keep the lead at five for most of the half. Alsdurf finished with a career high 20 points, leading a pack of five MU players in double figures. Nina Simotes led Louisville with 18.
"The team had a lot of enthusiasm and fire tonight," Mitchell added. "We want to be playing our best ball going into the conference tournament and we started strong tonight."
Louisville took its largest lead thanks to a 7-0 run late in the second half before MU quickly regained the advantage. Simotes hit three free throws and the Louisville defense forced two turnovers and transition baskets by Sara Nord and Carol Brown to go up four, 65-61, with 6:21 to play.
The teams played to a 33-33 tie at the half. Marquette jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, but the half was extremely tight. The five point lead was the largest by either team in the half. Louisville survived some missed shots early with nine offensive rebounds in half.
O'Grady hit a pair of baskets, one a three pointer, in the final two minutes to keep the game tied. She finished with 12 points. Alsdurf led Marquette with nine at the intermission. Brown was exceptional on the glass for Louisville, grabbing nine rebounds in the half, six of which were offensive. She was unable to capiltalize on her rebounding windfall, only scoring two. Simotes and Nero led the Cardinals in the first half with seven each off the bench.
Marquette plays at Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. at the Shoemaker Center.
