On senior night, Marquette (20-8, 12-5 Big East) convincingly defeated Xavier (6-22, 1-16 Big East), 62-37, in a game that the Golden Eagles dominated from tip-off to the final buzzer.
Despite a third quarter shooting slump, the Golden Eagles used their defensive strength to overpower the Musketeers and maintain a 15–20-point advantage that ignited from Marquette holding Xavier scoreless for just a tick over nine and a half minutes of game time. During that time, the Golden Eagles soared on a 19-0 run, and their influence never wavered throughout the game.
Embracing Identity
With both teams shooting under 35 percent from the field on the evening, Marquette found the bigger piece of the turkey’s wishbone this evening due to continued opportunity, with a 19-2 advantage in second chance points. Additionally, the Golden Eagles won the turnover battle by nine, and took advantage of Musketeer miscues, by tallying a 19-point advantage in points off turnovers.
Sophomore forward Skylar Forbes amassed four blocks, three steals and scoring 15 points on the evening. She said that defense has been Marquette’s consistent embodied identity that the team has rallied behind.
“We really hone in our defense, owning that’s who we are, ‘We Defend’ and ‘We Rebound’ are our mantras, staying disciplined and focused,” Forbes said. “We need to do (those mantras) in order to win, we like to get stops, and we like to turn our defense into offense. So, we’re a transition team, getting turnovers is definitely something that we need to do well in order to succeed.”
Head coach Cara Consuegra said that jumping out to hold the Musketeers to single digit first-half quarters was integral to pull away early.
“I loved how we started; I thought it was really important for us to get to a good start on the defensive end, really try to make sure our opponent didn’t have a lot of hope, and that was our mentality,” Consuegra said. “Let’s come out from the start and be who we are, defense is what we do. We’ve done that from day one, our kids know for us to win, we have to defend at a really high level, because we have those scoring lulls, in the third quarter we had them, we got some good shots but just weren’t going down. So, we know we can always trust our defense.”
Senior Success
Senior guard Lee Volker, who tied Forbes as the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer with 15 points, expressed her appreciation for the team after taking the Al McGuire Center floor for the last time.
“I love my teammates, I think I’m so lucky to get to play with the team that I love playing with,” Volker said. “I think outside people may have doubted, but since our first workout together, I was very confident we were going to be competitive this year, so it’s fun to be able to show them what we’re about.”
Senior forward Abbey Cracknell saw a high in minutes during Big East play against the Musketeers, which Consuegra said is aided by her consistent energy and leadership.
“It’s really great to see her play well tonight, she has been a joy to coach, mostly because who she is, and how great of a leader and teammate that she is,” Consuegra said. “She does everything we ask her to do, she does that with a really high motor and to the best of her ability, those are the types of kids you dream about coaching.”
Up Next
Marquette finishes the regular season with its biggest test yet, in Storrs against No. 5 UConn (26-3, 16-0 Big East). Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CST from Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies won the first meeting in Milwaukee, 77-45.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.