Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Sacred Heart
Golden Eagles Soar Past Sacred Heart, 77-55
11/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 17, 2008
MILWAUKEE -
With another balanced scoring effort, the Marquette women's basketball team earned a 77-55 win over Sacred Heart Monday night at the Al McGuire Center. The Golden Eagles had two newcomers scoring in double figures with freshman Jessica Pachko leading the way with game-high 14 points. The win puts Marquette at 2-0 overall, while Sacred Heart drops to 0-2 on the season.
The Golden Eagles completed the evening 44.1 percent (30-68) from the field, led by Pachko and Thomas-Johnson with 14 and 13 points apiece, respectively. Pachko missed just one shot total, as she hit 6-of-7 from the field and both of her attempts from the charity stripe. All-American candidate senior Krystal Ellis contributed eight points and as many assists in the win to go along with four steals.
After a dismal 6-for-22 shooting from the floor in the second half, the Pioneers ended the game connecting on 32.1 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from long range. The Pioneers saw three players in double-digits scoring, paced by Apo with 13 points, and Taylor and Ryan with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Marquette's depth plagued the Pioneers, as the Golden Eagles' bench combined for 29 points, in comparison to Sacred Heart's six. For the second consecutive game, Marquette scored more than 40 points in the paint and tallied more than 40 rebounds.
Sacred Heart opened scoring with Alisa Apo hitting a three from the top of the key, but two consecutive layups by Pachko got MU off and running. Marquette began an 11-0 run 2:23 into the game and never looked back. During the scoring spree, Thomas-Johnson tallied seven points for the Golden Eagles. Marquette pushed its lead to 14 points, 25-11, midway through the first half before Kaitlin Sowinski started a mini 6-0 run for the Pioneers to cut the lead to eight, 25-17, with 8:59 to play in the first.
MU freshman Georgie Jones answered with a layup of her own to spark a 9-0 MU run, keeping Sacred Heart stranded with 17 points for over three minutes on game clock. Thomas-Johnson hit a three from the corner, and back-to-back layups by Jones and Hill extended MU's lead to 17 points (34-17), its largest of the half. SHU responded with a 7-0 run but never got closer than eight points near the end of the first half.
The Golden Eagles went into halftime with a 13-point lead, 41-28. Marquette connected on 17-of-37 (45.9%) of its attempts from the field, led by Pachko and Thomas-Johnson with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Pachko was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor in the first.
Thomas-Johnson opened the second half with third three-pointer of the game, extending the Golden Eagles' lead to 16 points, 44-28. The Pioneers cut the gap to 13 points twice in the second frame, but Marquette put the game out of reach with an 11-2 run that pushed its lead to 22 points with 11:06 to play. The closest SHU came for the remainder of the game was 17 points.
The Golden Eagles open a two-game road trip Wednesday at Indiana State. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT.
