Marquette University Athletics
Marquette Defeats Winona State, 78-53
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 1, 2008
MILWAUKEE -
The Marquette women's basketball team defeated Winona State (Minn.) in their first exhibition game, 78-53, Saturday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center. Every player in the Golden Eagles' lineup scored, led by All-American candidate senior Krystal Ellis and sophomore Angel Robinson with 11 points apiece.
A three-pointer by sophomore Robinson opened the scoring to put the Golden Eagles up 3-0. With a 4-0 Marquette lead, Winona State's Natalie Gigler put the Warriors on the board with the first two of her 16 first half points. With the Winona State leading 11-9, Marquette responded by scoring the next nine points to take a 20-11 lead. Starting that run for the Golden Eagles was Ellis with three straight layups.
The Golden Eagles were then held scoreless over the next 5:13 and trailed 21-20 before a jumper by newcomer Breann Hill put Marquette out front, 22-21. With freshman Jessica Pachko's made free throw with 3:19 remaining, the Golden Eagles took the lead for good. Warrior sophomore Gigler cut the Marquette lead to four with a tip-in with under a minute left, finishing the half with 16 points.
With the game clock ticking down towards the end of the half, sophomore Courtney Weibel drained a three from the left side of the arc to give the Golden Eagles an eight point lead at 36-28, heading into the break.
A stifling MU perimeter defense limited the Warriors to 1-for-6 shooting from behind the line in the first frame. Meanwhile, Marquette counted three from long-range, shooting 60.0% from three-point distance. With a 12-for-24 offensive output, Ellis led the team going into halftime with nine points.
Out of the intermission, Marquette continued its strong play stringing together a 10-1 run to take a 46-29 lead. Gigler scored four consecutive baskets for the Warriors to cut Marquette's lead to seven points with 9:35 remaining in the game.
From there, the Golden Eagles turned on all engines and would outscore Winona State 29-11 through the final horn. MU's defense limited the Warriors to just six made field goals in the second half.
Marquette spread the scoring throughout its lineup in the final 10 minutes of play, capitalized by two Hill layups and back-to-back put-backs by sophomore Jasmine Collins. Weibel hit her second three-pointer of the game to extend the lead to 73-49 with under three minutes left to play.
For Winona State, Gigler finished the game with 22 points, the only Warrior to tally double digits. MU forced 15 turnovers, scoring 16 points off forced miscues. The Golden Eagles finished the game with a 50.9% field goal percentage and knocked down 5-of-10 from long distance.
Marquette's depth wore Winona State down, with 41 of the team's 78 points coming off the bench.
Sophomores Jocelyn Mellen and Paige Fiedorowicz each grabbed six rebounds as MU dominated the glass, 41-27.
Marquette will host Wis.-Parkside for its final exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 before opening the regular season with Oral Roberts on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.
Post-game Quotes
Head Coach Terri Mitchell
Impressions on game...
"It's exhibition. I was definitely going to play everyone. They deserve to play. They have worked very hard; obviously, we got three of our best combinations from there, but I just liked our second half, we had more of a defense mentality. We were too focused the first half on offense- we wanted it so badly that we were giving up really easy buckets. In the second half we only gave up six buckets, and that's why we did better on offense."
About hardships faced first half...
"That's beginning of the year, that's the officials setting the tone- our practices are physical, but I think it's important that we're physical right because the whole game is just physical. I'd rather see it now and adjust than not."
On newcomers...
"I'm very happy with the play of the newcomers. I think they're going to add a lot to our team. They're giving us depth and depth is what you need to be successful in the long run."
On the next game...
"We'll probably change our starting line-up because I want to see who our best sparks off the bench are-We'll probably get in a little bit more sets and do a little more on defense because obviously everything's pointing toward November 15th and that's what we need to be ready for."
