HARTFORD, Conn. — From its opening possession, it was clear what kind of night Marquette women’s basketball was in for.
After UConn made a layup, the Golden Eagles inbounded the ball to Olivia Porter, who was immediately swarmed by a pack of Huskies to force a jump ball. Seconds later, it was 4-0 to the home team. Then, the blue & gold could not even get the ball in possession as the referees called a five-second violation.
There was a lot of that for the rest of Marquette’s bout against the undefeated, No. 1 ranked team in the country UConn on Wednesday night at PeoplesBank Arena, which ended in an 89-53 defeat. All game, UConn’s press proved insurmountable.
It again stymied Marquette’s offense with just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter, this time as a shot clock violation. And again at the end of the opening half, as the Golden Eagles went 5:02 without a field goal, trailing 46-21 as they went back to the locker room. And again when that same basket-less streak reoccurred in the third quarter, leading the Huskies’ to extend their lead even further off into the sunset.
And again, and again, and again across 40 minutes — more times than one can count.
There’s a reason Marquette barely averaged a single point every 60 seconds. A reason it narrowly beat its season-worst mark of 47 points, doing so largely in part because the Huskies took off their starters for the final quarter. A reason the blue & gold, despite attempting nine less shots than the blue & white, made 17 less. A reason head coach Cara Consuegra waived the white flag with over two minutes remaining.
The Huskies, the same ones who have not lost in 314 days dating back to last season, who boast a top-10 offense and defense, who have only been bested by the Golden Eagles once in now 24 meetings, have their defense to thank. The offense, which shot 38-for-64 from the floor and 7-for-14 from beyond the arc, did what it had to, but it was the defense leading the charge.
By the time Marquette began playing the way Consuegra prefers, in the fourth quarter, it was too late. The eight more points the Golden Eagles scored across the final 10 minutes — spearheaded by Skylar Forbes, who scored 11 of her 17 in the period — made not even a dent on the Huskies’ advantage.
Before they were taken off long ahead of the final buzzer, Sarah Strong scored a game-most 22 points, Azzi Fudd trailed with 14, followed by Blanca Quinonez (12) and Serah Williams (11). Forbes was the lone Golden Eagle to score double-digits.
This story was written by Jack Albright. He can be reached at jack.albright@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @JackAlbrightMU.