Marquette University
5-0,0-0Big East
Gonzaga
4-1,0-0WCC
WBB Defeats Gonzaga in Battle 4 Atlantis Semifinals
11/20/2022 4:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Golden Eagles advance to championship game with 70-66 win
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — The Marquette women's basketball team (5-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) defeated Gonzaga 70-66 Sunday afternoon at Imperial Arena in the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
With the win, the Golden Eagles remain perfect and advance to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game, where they will face UCLA tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT.
"I'm not sure this was the prettiest basketball game we've seen since the tournament started, but I'm just really thrilled with the win," said Marquette head coach Megan Duffy. "We had a statement program win against Texas last night, then came back with the same grit and determination to win a little bit differently. I thought we had great contributions by our bench, and in a tournament with three games in three days you're going to have to have different people step up, and that was definitely the case this afternoon."
After getting off to a rough start and allowing 7-0 run out of the gates, Marquette called a timeout and responded shortly after with a 7-0 run of its own to pull within two by the end of the quarter. The Golden Eagles found rhythm and used strong shooting (6-of-12) outside the arc in the second quarter to pull ahead, and closed the frame on a 19-5 run to take a 39-32 advantage into the halftime break.
The fourth quarter began tied up at 54-54 after a last-second full-court heave by the Zags evened things up, but the Golden Eagle defense came up big down the stretch, holding Gonzaga without a field goal for the final 7:47 of action. The Bulldogs scored just 12 points in the final quarter.
With 1:03 remaining in the contest and a tie ballgame, senior forward Chloe Marotta finished a layup with a foul, then hit the free throw to give MU a three-point edge. The teams then traded free throws, followed by a 2-for-2 trip to the stripe for Gonzaga to pull within one at 67-66 with 25.7 seconds remaining. Rose Nkumu then hit two free throws, followed by a Marquette stop and one more free throw by Jordan to ice the game and give MU its fifth-straight victory.
With a 5-0 start to the year, this is the team's best start to a season since 2010-11. It is the fourth 5-0 start in program history.
The Bulldogs were paced by the duo of Kaylynne Truong and Brynna Maxwell, who finished with 18 points apiece.
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Chloe Marotta finished the game with a team-high 18 points including 13 in the first half. This is her fourth double-figure scoring outing of the season, and the 22nd of her career.
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Marotta finished with eight boards, three assists and a career-high four blocks.
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Jordan King led the team's rebounding efforts with a career-high nine boards. She also had 13 points and four assists.
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Mackenzie Hare went for 13 points off the bench, including 3-for-7 from behind the arc, the second double-figure scoring game of her career.
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Liza Karlen posted her fourth double-figure scoring game of the season, going for 12 points.
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This was Marquette's first 5-0 start since 2010-11, and its fourth in program history.
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With the win, Marquette is now 4-0 vs 2021-22 conference champions. They have taken down Fairleigh Dickinson (NEC), Holy Cross (Patriot League), Texas (Big 12) and now Gonzaga (WCC).
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Marquette finished the game shooting 39.7 percent (25-of-63) from the floor, 40.0 percent (8-of-20) from 3-point range and 80.0 percent (12-of-15) from the free throw line.
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With the win, Marquette is now 3-1 all-time vs Gonzaga and 12-5 all-time vs current WCC programs.
UP NEXT: Marquette will play in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game against UCLA tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, with live stat link available on GoMarquette.com.
Keep up with the Marquette women's basketball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWBB) and Instagram (@marquettewbb) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWBB).
