Marquette University
13-7,6-5Big East
Xavier
7-13,0-11Big East
WBB Notches 64-40 Win over Xavier
1/25/2023 9:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Golden Eagles defense comes up big in victory Wednesday night
MILWAUKEE — The Marquette women's basketball team (13-7, 6-5 BIG EAST) took down Xavier Wednesday evening at the Al McGuire Center, earning a 64-40 win.
"I thought tonight was an overall really great team win, it's always great to protect your home floor," said Marquette head coach Megan Duffy. "Defensively, I thought we did a lot of great things to slow down Xavier. It was a little bit of a slow first and second quarter, but I loved us after the first minute of the third quarter."
The Golden Eagles used suffocating defense and a strong second half to secure the victory, paced by the guard duo of freshman Mackenzie Hare and senior Jordan King, who finished the night with 18 and 17 points, respectively. This was Hare's second-straight game leading MU in the scoring column, after going for 23 on Sunday against Seton Hall.
After starting the game just 1-of-13 from the field, the Golden Eagles got rolling and made five of their next seven shots. Despite shooting just 29.7 percent (11-of-37) in the first half, Marquette took a 10-point lead into the halftime break after forcing 15 turnovers and limiting the Musketeers to just 21 shots in the first half.
The defensive clamps got even tighter in the second half, as Xavier was held to just 27.6 percent shooting (8-of-29) in the final two quarters. On the game, the Musketeers made just one 3-pointer, finishing 1-of-10 from behind the arc.
Senior forward Chloe Marotta helped MU post a 41-34 advantage on the glass, bringing down a game-high 16 rebounds, just one short of her career-high.
Xavier was paced by Fernanda Ovalle, who finished with team-highs of nine points and seven rebounds.
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Jordan King moved up three spots on the Marquette all-time scorer's list, improving to 22nd in program history. She passed Selena Lott (2017-21) and Kerri Reaves (1991-95), and now sits tied with Courtney Romeiser (1989-93) with 1,204 in her career.
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King scored in double-figures for the 16th time this season, and the 59th of her career as she went for 17 points tonight.
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Mackenzie Hare had the sixth double-figure game of her career, going for 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
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Chloe Marotta fell just one rebound shy of tying her career high, bringing down 16 boards. This was her third-straight game with 12-plus rebounds.
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Claire Kaifes posted career-highs in steals with four, while tying her career-high in assists with three.
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Xavier's 40 points are tied for the fewest by a Marquette opponent this season (Saint Francis, 11/27/22).
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Marquette scored 22 points off of 21 Xavier turnovers.
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28 of Marquette's 64 points came from its bench.
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Marquette finished the game shooting 35.8 percent (24-of-67) from the floor, 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from 3-point range and 90.0 percent (9-of-10) from the free throw line.
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This was Marquette's lowest shooting percentage in a win this season.
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With the win, Marquette improves to 20-7 all-time vs Xavier, and has now won 13-straight games in the series.
UP NEXT: Marquette hits the road for back-to-back games, beginning this weekend as they take on Butler on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 1 p.m. (CT). The game will be broadcast by BIG EAST Digital Network on FloHoops, with live stream and stat links 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).
