WBB Clipped By St. John's, 73-66

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's basketball team dropped its first home game on the season on Monday night in a 73-66 defeat to St. John's at the Al McGuire Center. Close throughout, the Golden Eagles saw a three-minute drought in the final minutes give the Red Storm enough breathing room.

Skylar Forbes led all scorers with 16 points while Halle Vice recorded her second straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Following a 3-pointer to open the game from Jaidynn Mason, who finished with 14 points after missing the last game with an illness, Marquette led for the first six minutes of the contest until a 7-0 spurt from St. John's turned the tide in the opening period as they led for the remainder of the half.

Five quick points with under eight minutes remaining in the second quarter from Mason pulled the Golden Eagles to within one but St. John's answered back with a pair of 3-pointers and an and-one to build its advantage to seven. Marquette continued to chip away, getting back to within one with under 30 seconds left until half but a 3-pointer at the buzzer from the Red Storm pushed its lead back up to 36-32 heading into the locker room.

With less than four minutes gone in the third, a layup from Forbes gave Marquette its first lead since 4:02 was on the clock in the first quarter (42-41). St. John's grabbed the lead right back at the line and the two teams went back-and-forth through the rest of the third.

With St. John's leading 53-50 to start the fourth, Vice quickly cut the deficit to one but five unanswered from the Red Storm put the visitors back up six. The response came two minutes later on a corner 3 from Jordan Meulemans. The junior was then on the end of a pin-point deep pass from Mason in transition. The Red Storm responded a triple from the corner to go back up 63-60 with 6:11 to play. The Golden Eagles twice pulled to within one but a three-minute drought late saw the Red Storm build a 69-64 advantage with just 44 seconds to play.

UP NEXT
Marquette heads to Cincinnati, Ohio on New Year's Day to face Xavier at the Cintas Center. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT.

NOTABLES

Marquette lost just its third game at the Al McGuire Center under Cara Consuegra (19-3).
Marquette dropped to 1-4 on the year when trailing at the half. MU was 6-0 this season prior to Monday's loss.
MU shot a season-low 50.0% from the free-throw line (4-of-8). The Golden Eagles were outscored at the line by 11.
MU made just six 3-pointers in the contest. Three of MU's five losses have coming when making six or fewer 3-pointers.
Halle Vice recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Skylar Forbes led Marquette in scoring for the seventh time this season, finishing with 16 points.