Marquette University Athletics
Women' Basketball Tops Saint Louis, 73-50
2/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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MILWAUKEE -- Marquette turned defense into offense, forcing Saint Louis to commit 27 turnovers in a 73-50 win. Marquette (18-6, 8-3 C-USA) scored 26 points off turnovers in the win. The 27 turnovers were the most Saint Louis (8-17, 2-10 C-USA) has had all season. With the win, Marquette stretched its home win streak to 10 games.
Guard Carolyn Kieger scored 23 points, a tying career high. Most of those came in the first half. Guard Katie O?Grady was MU?s dominant force in the second half.
"You saw a very confident player out there (in Carolyn) and I think it was very important for the team to line up behind that,? head coach Terri Mitchell said. "But at the same time there's different players who are stepping up-- there are no superstars on this team and I love that."
Saint Louis had cut into Marquette?s second half lead, trailing by 13. A turnover forced by Efueko Osagie and a fast-break layup by O?Grady off a feed from Lesley Juedes extended MU?s margin to 16 and the Golden Eagles never looked back. The basket was part of a streak of eight points for O?Grady, who finished the game with 15.
Marquette also dominated inside, owning a 42-16 points in the paint advantage. Marquette finished the game hitting 26-of-53 (49.1 percent) from the field.
Kieger tossed in 16 of her points at the break to lead Marquette to a 36-25 lead. The Billikens kept it close throughout the half, but MU finished the half with a 5-0 run to improve on what was a four-point lead. Saint Louis shot well for the half, hitting 52.9 percent, but MU gave Saint Louis fits on the defensive end, forcing the Bills to 15 turnovers.
"I'm thrilled with the energy of our players game,? Mitchell said. ?You can look at our 73 points and you can look at our defensive energy and know that got us the win."
Kieger dominated the Marquette scoring column for the half. She was, however, helped out by seven additional players with points. Crystal Weaver led that contingent with six. Jana Haywood was as one-sided for SLU as Kieger was for Marquette. She had 11 points and was just one of two Billikens to not turn the ball over in the half.
Saint Louis was without leading scorer Angie Lewis for most of the first half. She sat for the final 14 minutes of the half after acquiring her second foul. She left with four points.
Marquette returns to action on Friday, February 22 at 22nd-ranked TCU in a 7 p.m. start.
