Seniors Help Spark 66-48 Win Over Cincinnati

Feb. 28, 2006

MILWAUKEE - Led by three Golden Eagles in double figures, Marquette defeated Cincinnati, 66-48, in the regular season finale at the Al McGuire Center. With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 18-9, 9-7 BIG EAST and head into the 2006 BIG EAST Tournament this weekend as the #9 seed. MU will face #8 Villanova at 2 p.m. (EST) on Saturday in the opening round at the Hartford Civic Center.

"This win was extremely important," said head coach Terri Mitchell. "You want to play well for your seniors and we are still fighting for an NCAA bid with this. At the end of the day, we just want to end well for the seniors."

"This group of seniors worked hard for everything they earned. They are leaving behind unselfish play, a tremendous work ethic, and a terrific legacy." Mitchell added.

Junior Christina Quaye led all scorers with 17 points, connecting on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, while also pulling down five rebounds. Freshman Marissa Thrower added a career high 12 points, two blocks and a steal off the bench, while freshman Krystal Ellis contributed 10 points and four rebounds.

Quaye led Marquette with nine points in the first stanza, while senior Tierra Shirley and Thrower each added six points off the bench. Collectively the Golden Eagles hit just over 48 percent of their shots in the first half, connecting on 13-of-27 from the floor, while Cincinnati was just below that making 46.7 percent of its tries on 14-of-30 shooting. Shirley's six tallies were a career-high for the Milwaukee native.

Marquette held the rebounding advantage in the first half, 19-13, but the Bearcats forced seven Golden Eagles turnovers and grabbed five steals. The Golden Eagles would continue crashing the glass in the second winning the rebounding battle 39-34 and forced 11 Cincinnati turnovers in the second half.

"I would like to credit the seniors; Tierra was our strength in the first half, Amber was our spark in the second half, and Carolyn was the steady the whole game." explained Mitchell. "I feel very good about going into the conference tournament - with the urgency our seniors have. They are playing with confidence, knowing we can count on them."

The Golden Eagles struggled to find a rhythm early in the first half committing four turnovers leaving Cincinnati to score 10 points off Golden Eagle miscues. The Bearcats took an early 17-4 lead.

"We wanted it so bad," Mitchell said of the team's rocky start. "When you want it bad, you get tentative. But I just like how we never lost focus on the game plan, put our emotions aside, and just played basketball."

Marquette stormed back with a 16-2 run - which included scoring 12 unanswered - over a five minute span in which the Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game, 20-19, capped by a Quaye layup with 7:31 remaining. The two teams would end the half trading buckets with Cincinnati holding the slim advantage, 32-31, at the break.

Quaye started things up for Marquette in the second half, hitting a jumper and a trey in just under two minutes into the second stanza. A basket from Thrower sparked an 8-0 run giving Marquette a 45-39 lead. A key steal from junior Jasmine McCullough led to a trey from Johnson that pushed Marquette's lead to seven, 48-41, with 11:04 remaining in the game.

A Marquette 8-0 run gave the squad its largest lead of the game (18 points), at 60-42 with 2:30 left in the game. Cincinnati never came any closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

The Golden Eagles shot 49.1 percent for the game, going 27-of-55 from the floor. They were just 2-of-12 from the perimeter and connected on 10-of-16 from the charity stripe. MU outrebounded the Bearcats, 39-34. The Golden Eagles committed 13 turnovers.

Next up for the Golden Eagles is Villanova in the opening round of the BIG EAST Tournament. The Wildcats got the better of Marquette on Jan. 25, picking up a 72-58 win in Villanova, Pa.

"The goal for the tournament is to win Saturday. All season long, the most important game for us has been the next game." Mitchell explained. "We take it one game at a time. If you don't win Saturday you don't play again. Everyone is going to come in with urgency and intensity. We just need to follow the game plan and stay focused."