Start To Finish: Marquette 66, Georgetown 49

Feb 5, 2023 - 4:29 PM

It’s not going to go into the record books as an outstanding performance that will be remembered forever in the annals of Marquette women’s basketball history, but it didn’t need to be. It needed to be a win, and it was a win, and a relatively easy one at that. Megan Duffy’s Golden Eagles knocked off Georgetown on Saturday evening to wrap up the three home games on National Marquette Day by a score of 66-49. MU is now 15-8 on the year and 8-6 in Big East play, just a half game back of St. John’s and Seton Hall in a tie for fourth place in the league.

After some standard issue back and forth to start the game, Jordan King kicked off Marquette’s offensive effort in a big way with a bucket in the paint at the 6:25 mark of the first. That was the first basket in a 10-0 Marquette run capped by triples from King and Kenzie Hare. Marquette up 16-6 at that point with just under two minutes left in the quarter, and they went into the second frame up 18-11.

Giving up that 10 point margin may have annoyed the Golden Eagles, as they started off the second with a quick 4-0 burst in the first 90 seconds to prompt a timeout from Georgetown head coach James Howard, and then Chloe Marotta tacked on two freebies to make it a 6-0 burst and a 13 point lead. The competitive portion of the game was effectively over at this point, as Georgetown would never get within single digits again. Marquette pushed away from the Hoyas late in the second, as an and-1 from Rose Nkumu partnered up with another triple from Hare to push the margin to 17. Georgetown did managed to cut it to 13 at halftime, but it was up to 18 right after halftime and Howard had to call another “what did we just talk about?” timeout.

A jumper from Emily La Chapell with 2:55 left in the third pushed the margin to 20 for the first time, and Nkumu scored the last bucket of the period to make it a 23 point game, 59-36, with 10 minutes to go. The Hoyas never got closer than 17 in the fourth quarter, and that includes Marquette going the entire final 2:19 without scoring at all.

Never a huge run for Marquette in there, but two or three buckets at a time slowly but sure kept the new largest lead number going up and up all game long.

Jordan King did a little bit of everything on top of leading Marquette in scoring with 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting. She added three rebounds, five assists, and a steal. FUN FACT: Kelsey Ransom led Georgetown in scoring, and she also had 23 points... so you can see which player had more support from her teammates in this game. Emily La Chapell added 11 points, and Chloe Marotta had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds, not to mention the super senior’s three assists, three steals, and a block.

How about some highlights, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and FloSports?

Up Next: It’s a major challenge for Marquette, but also a major opportunity to lock themselves into an NCAA tournament bid. On Wednesday, Marquette will host #5 Connecticut with first tip at the McGuire Center and on SNY set for 7pm Central time. The Huskies are 21-2 overall and 13-0 in Big East play after beating Providence by 10 in Rhode Island on Wednesday night. They are tangling with #1 South Carolina on Sunday afternoon before making the trip to Milwaukee.