Marquette women’s basketball set a record in its Big East home-opener against Butler.
The Golden Eagles (6-3, 2-0 Big East) splashed 13 threes en route to an 80-55 victory over the Bulldogs (4-6, 0-2), the most made by any Cara Consuegra coached team.
“It’s something that we’ve been working on since last season,” Consuegra said about her team’s 3-point shooting. “When they shoot it, they believe it’s going in.”
But before the threes started falling, turnovers posed a serious issue for Marquette, who turned the ball over three times in the first five minutes and trailed 10-7 lead halfway through the first quarter.
“I thought we didn’t start the game great,” said Consuegra. “We knew Butler was going to come out and really pressure us, and we had some turnovers early with allowing them to pressure us.”
The high-tempo Golden Eagles turned the ball over 16 times on the day, right in line with their 16.6 turnovers per game average, but they also forced 15 turnovers from the Bulldogs and scored 16 points off of them.
“I’m okay with some of the turnovers that come with our speed,” Consuegra said. “For me, the turnovers are the easy ones, the careless ones. Those are some of the ones that we have to do a better job taking care of.”
Marquette found its footing and led 19-14 going into the second quarter, the positive momentum swing coming from five straight points from Halle Vice. The third-year guard made her presence felt all day, finishing with 13 points on 67% shooting (6-for-9), nine rebounds and four combined steals and blocks.
“Halle always impacts the game,” said Consuegra. “I thought she did a really good job tonight, taking advantage of her matchup and getting to some good spots, and then she played off Skylar really well.
In the second quarter, the Golden Eagles took charge. Although they only held a five-point lead going in, they shot 72.7% from the field and went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc to carry a 16-point lead into the half, 41-25. Three of Marquette’s four second quarter 3-pointers came from graduate student guard Lee Volker, who finished 3-for-7 from deep and 5-for-10 overall, scoring 14 points.
A 6-0 Butler run with six minutes left in the third quarter quickly brought the Marquette lead down to 10, forcing Consuegra to call timeout.
“I thought our kids really refocused and responded,” Consuegra said about the timeout. “We have a lot of experience, and we need to be able to feel those runs that teams are going to make at us and respond.”
The Golden Eagles left the huddle revitalized as a Vice layup and a Jordan Meulemans triple pushed them to a 13-point lead heading into the 4th quarter.
Marquette’s fourth-quarter threes reappeared in ubiquitous fashion.
The Golden Eagles missed only one of their six attempts from deep (83.3%) in the final period, two of which came from junior forward Skylar Forbes and another pair from fourth-year guard Olivia Porter. Forbes tied her career-high on the day with 26 points, also tacking on a career-high six assists and eight rebounds.
“The trust that we have in each other, for them to make the pass or for me to make the shot and vice versa, it makes it all worthwhile,” Forbes said.
Seven of Marquette’s nine made baskets in the fourth quarter came off assists. In the scope of the entire game, 26 of Marquette’s 32 made shots came via assists.
“That’s how we want to play,” said Consuegra. “We want to play for and with each other.”
On the day, Vice, Volker and Forbes — who posted a team-most 26 points — led the way with 53 combined points. But plenty of help from Jaidynn Mason (seven points, seven assists), Porter (11 points on 4-of-5 shooting) and Jada Bediako (six points and three rebounds) made for a sure-handed Marquette win.
“We believe that we have a lot of weapons on this team, and we don’t just have to rely on one person,” Consuegra remarked. “I thought our kids did a really good job tonight adjusting.”
The Golden Eagles get a week off before their next match against Le Moyne Dec. 14 at the Al McGuire Center.
“This is a great opportunity for us to just focus on school, focus on ourselves, and keep getting better,” Consuegra said.
This story was written by Jake Dale. He can be reached at jacob.dale@marquette.edu.