Marquette University Athletics
Golden Eagles Fall to Louisville, 69-54
3/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CHARLOTTE ? A strong second-half shooting effort propelled No. 2 Louisville to a 69-54 victory over No. 7 Marquette in the final quarterfinal of the Pepsi Conference USA Women?s Basketball Tournament.
"Louisville's a good team," said Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell. "Give them a lot of credit. They did a great job of moving the ball and knocking down shots. We just didn't hit ours when we needed to."
Reserve guard Katie Olson ignited the second-half scoring binge by dropping in 18 of her career-high 20 points after halftime as the Cardinals (21-7) shot just over 18 percent better (14-for-26, 53.8 percent) as a team then they did in the first half. Olson made 7-of-10 field goal attempts in the second half and stepped up, while the Cards? leading scorer and first-team All C-USA member Jazz Covington fought through constant double-teaming. Covington finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
?I thought this was a really good win for us,? Louisville head coach Tom Collen said. ?It was one that we needed. I thought Yuliya Tokova helped keep us in the game in the first half. The other person that was really on fire for us was Katie Olson. She was outstanding. I usually don?t let her shoot those three?s, but you could see it in her eyes. This team is involving into a team that has several weapons and that is what you need to take it to the next level.?
C-USA All-Freshman team member Yuliya Tokova was one of four Cardinals in double figures. Tokova had 15 points, while Angel Bradley chipped in with 12 and Jessica Huggins scored 10.
Louisville tallied 45 second-half points after holding just a 24-17 cushion at the break. Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the opening 20 minutes with Marquette hitting at a 32 percent clip (8-for-25) and Louisville connecting on 35.7 percent (10-for-28).
"We didn't feel panicked at half time," Mitchell said. "We just caught a team that was on fire to begin the second half."
The Cards? field goal percentage would have been lower if not for the perfection of Tokova in the opening 20 minutes. Tokova made all four of her field goal attempts including a three pointer and also made both of her free throw attempts to finish the half with 11 points.
Quaye scored nearly half of the Golden Eagles? first-half points as she netted eight of game -high 23 points. Quaye scored the opening bucket of the second half to pull Marquette within five, but Louisville answered with an 8-0 run to build a 13-point advantage. The Cardinals never let Marquette get within double digits after the run.
"We should have taken half of our three point attempts and give the ball to Christina and let her do what she can," Mitchell said.
Point guard Carolyn Kieger was the only other Golden Eagle in double figures with 10. This marks just the third time in tournament history that the four top seeds advanced through to the semifinal round. Top-seeded DePaul will face fourth-seeded TCU in the first semifinal with tipoff set for 2 p.m. EST.
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