After a dominant first half put Marquette women’s basketball in complete control against DePaul, the Golden Eagles took their largest lead of the night (22 points) not even three minutes into the third quarter. It looked as though Marquette would get a much-welcome comfortable win after two nail-biting road victories.
But the Blue Demons (5-18, 2-10 Big East) stormed back, testing the Golden Eagles (14-7, 8-4) to the very limit in their 74-73 pulse-pounding triumph.
“I try to be as positive as possible,” junior guard Halle Vice said. “I truly believed that we were going to win that game, no matter what. I didn’t have doubt in my mind, so I kept urging my teammates, and believed it the rest of the way.”
DePaul’s double teams and press defense gave Marquette fits throughout the contest, but the blue & gold navigated around it to walk into the locker room with a 49-27 lead after 20 minutes. Senior guard Jaidynn Mason scored 12 of her 16 points, on 6-of-7 shooting, and dished five assists. The Golden Eagles dominated the glass, winning the rebounding battle 24-9, and dropped 34 points in the paint.
Then, they came out of the break and further added onto the lead. All was good for Marquette. That is, until DePaul’s defense ramped up and forced many turnovers in the final 20 minutes — 18 total, eight of which came from Mason.
At the third quarter buzzer, DePaul slashed Marquette’s 22-point lead in half, knocking on the door with increasing authority. The knuckle raps did not stop there.
The Blue Demons hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers halfway into the fourth to trail by only five points, 65-60, and force the Golden Eagles to call timeout. They would cut the deficit to 69-67 with under two minutes to go, before a three kept it one possession as 13.4 seconds remained.
After the ball sailed through the hoop, Consuegra used her final timeout of the night. She would put the ball back in Mason’s hands, despite the many giveaways, a decision the point guard rewarded by drawing a foul.
“At that point, they might trap a little bit, but they’re going to foul, Jaidynn [Mason] has shot free throws really well this year,” Consuegra said. “When you play a team like [DePaul] where you might get a trap, you need to have your best free throw shooters out there, in that spot.”
Consuegra proved to be prescient.
Mason stepped up to the line and nailed two crucial free throws, giving Marquette a four-point advantage heading into DePaul’s final play. Because of Mason’s charity work, Blue Demon Ally Timm’s 3-pointer at the buzzer — a final reminder of the almost-comeback — would only be enough to cut the deficit to one point, and the Golden Eagles escaped with a win.
“Survive is probably the right word. We did survive. I’s a crazy box score, they got 30 more shots up than us, a combination of our turnovers and what DePaul does, which is shoot threes,” Consuegra said. “Sometimes in the Big East, you’ve just got to take care of it.”
They “took care of it” thanks in part to Vice’s eighth double-double of the season — a team-most 18 points and 14 rebounds — and timely shots to keep pace with the fast-rallying Blue Demons. Efficient shooting also helped, as the Golden Eagles went 64.8% from the floor despite having many less attempts.
Leading DePaul were Wisconsin natives Alayna West and Timm. West tallied 19 points, while Timm finished with a game-high 21 points, including six second-half 3-pointers.
Redshirt junior guard Jordan Meulemans was inactive for Wednesday’s game and was not seen on the sidelines. It is unknown what caused Meulemans to miss time, or when she may return.
Redshirt junior forward Charia Smith scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting in her second career start, and Skylar Forbes dropped 10 off the bench after missing the Golden Eagles’ last game against Butler for personal reasons.
Up next for Marquette is a road rematch with Georgetown (12-8, 5-6 Big East). Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. CST on Sunday, Feb. 1.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.