Women's basketball tops SDSU, 91-52, in season opener

MILWAUKEE – Senior Natisha Hiedeman posted a game-high 21 points as the No. 19/19 Marquette University women's basketball team claimed a 91-52 victory over South Dakota State on Tuesday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center in its 2018-19 lid-lifter.

Classmate Allazia Blockton, the BIG EAST Conference Preseason Player of the Year, posted 19 points as the Golden Eagles (1-0) shot 52.3 percent (34-of-65) from the floor. MU was also 13-of-31 from 3-point range, which included five makes from Hiedeman and four from Isabelle Spingola, who ended with 14 points.

The Jackrabbits (0-1) shot just 10-of-31 in the second half and went 5-of-21 from deep overall.

Hiedeman pushed the Golden Eagles out to an early 14-6 lead with eight points as MU shot 6-of-8 from the floor. Save an Erika Davenport free throw, MU was held off the board for nearly the next five minutes until Spingola hit a triple from the right corner with 1:43 left in the opening frame to give Marquette an 18-12 lead.

MU went 0-for-10 after its hot shooting start but made its first seven 3-pointers of the second quarter to build a sizable, 44-25, advantage on a Hiedeman triple with 36 seconds remaining in the half.

Freshman Chloe Marotta made her NCAA regular season debut at the 5:09 mark of the third quarter. From nearby Mequon, Wisconsin, Marotta is the younger sister of senior MU men's basketball player Cam and the daughter of the late Marc Marotta, Marquette's only three-time Academic All-American with the men's basketball program.

Senior guard Danielle King finished with eight points for Marquette and now sits just nine from 1,000 career points. She will become the fifth active Golden Eagle to reach the mark, which would make MU the only team in the NCAA Division I with five active 1,000-point scorers.

Marquette improves to 5-0 all-time against the Jackrabbits with the victory.

The Golden Eagles resume action at the Al McGuire Center on Friday, Nov. 5 against Montana State at 7 p.m.

Keep up with the Marquette University women's basketball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWBB) and Instagram (@MUWBB) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWBB). For tickets contact the Marquette Ticket Office at (414) 288-4668 (GOMU), by email or on Twitter (/MUTicketOffice).