Ellis Sparks Furious Marquette Comeback

Jan. 21, 2006

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Krystal Ellis poured in a career-high 23 points, including 19 in the second half, as Marquette took home a terrific come-from-behind win, 80-75, at West Virginia.

Ellis was 7-for-9 from the floor - including 5-for-5 from the perimeter - while knocking down all four of her attempts from the charity stripe. She also added a collegiate-bests in rebounding (7) and assists (5).

"We knew coming into this game it would be extremely tough." said head coach Terri Mitchell. "West Virginia is a very good team and Meg Bulger is one of the best players we've ever had to prepare for."

Marquette began the game ice cold from the field, connecting on just one of its first eight shot attempts, coupled with eight turnovers. West Virginia - and its standout guard Meg Bulger - took advantage of the Golden Eagles' troubles, scoring 21 unanswered points and taking a 23-2 lead with 12:37 to go in the first half. Bulger had 11 of the Mountaineers' 23 points.

"It's not quite how we drew it up before the game. But we've had experience with coming back from deficits, so no one panicked." Mitchell added.

A Jasmine McCullough layup ended MU's drought and began a mini 14-6 run, capped by a beautiful three-quarter court pass from Carolyn Kieger to Ellis with 6:51 to play, making it 29-16. But West Virginia would close the half outscoring Marquette, 14-9, and took an 18-point lead into the locker room at the half, up 43-25.

After a McCullough turnover on Marquette's first possession of the second half contributed to a fastbreak layup for WVU, the Golden Eagles' offense kicked it up a notch or two.

Or three. Three-pointers, to be exact. Ellis nailed the first of her five second-half treys the next time down, and the MU run had begun. Ellis and Danielle Kamm combined to shoot an outstanding 9-for-10 from beyond the arc in the second frame.

"In the first half, we had set up Danielle for some looks from the outside and she didn't take them." Mitchell stated. "We have all the confidence in the world in her, she's a junior and has played a lot of games for us. She took advantage of her shots in the second half."

With 10:30 to play WVU's Bulger picked up her fourth foul, as she hacked McCullough in the paint. She would go to the bench and the Golden Eagles would take over, using a 33-10 run to take the lead with 8:20 to play on Ellis' fifth trifecta.

Marquette sealed it down the stretch with clutch 5-for-5 free throw shooting to close out the contest.

"At the half, I just told the team that we had 20 minutes to fight and play hard and get back in the game." said Mitchell. "We have pride when we wear the Marquette uniform."

"We came back from 17 against St. John's and we've had a team - Northern Colorado- come back from a 14-point deficit, so we've seen both ends of it." said Carolyn Kieger. "We used that as a motivator in the second half."

MU shot a season-best 56.8% (25-44) - including 69.6% (16-23) in the second half - besting the previous season-high set last time out at home against Pittsburgh. Three other MU players tallied double-digits in the scoring column. Kamm and Svetlana Kovalenko each tallied 14 points, while Christina Quaye had 10. Kieger had nine points and eight assists.

Marquette returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 25 when they travel to Philadelphia to face Villanova.