No. 22/19 MU Tops Providence, 85-46 in BIG EAST Opener

MILWAUKEE--The No. 22/19 ranked Marquette women's basketball team opened the BIG EAST campaign with a stellar 85-46 win over Providence on Saturday afternoon.

It was a career day for Erika Davenport as she turned in her second straight double-double tallying 19 points and a career-high 20 boards, while Natisha Hiedeman posted a complete game with a season-best 25 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in the victory. Danielle King connected on 6-for-8 of her shots to turn in 13 points for Marquette (10-3, 1-0).

"Defensively I was proud, we held them to 31 percent," head coach Carolyn Kieger said. "We shot 51 percent. That's something they had been doing a good job of-holding teams to low field goal percentages."

Marquette held the Friars to just 12 points at the half and 10 percent shooting (3-30), the fewest allowed in the first half all season, while hitting 50 percent of its attempts at a 15-for-30 mark. The Golden Eagles found opportunities down low as 22 of the 40 points were scored in the paint.

The Friars (8-5, 0-1) opened the second half with hot shooting and scored 17 points in both the third and fourth quarter finishing the day shooting 31.5 percent (17-for-54) led by Jovana Nogic's 12 points.

The Golden Eagles' defense forced 23 turnovers, good for 21 points from those miscues, while MU combined for a season-best 18 steals and outrebounded Providence, 50-25. It was the sixth game this season that Marquette shot over 50 percent as the squad connected on 33-for-64 of their attempts (51.6 percent).

Allazia Blockton closed with 1,989 career points becoming the all-time leading scorer for Marquette on the women's and men's side. Jerel McNeal is the men's all-time leader with 1,985 career points.

Marquette has a short turnaround to start BIG EAST season and will host Creighton on Monday, Dec. 31 at 2 p.m CT live on the BIG EAST Digital Network. The Bluejays face DePaul later Saturday evening.