WBB Produces Gritty Effort in 71-56 Defeat to No. 1 UConn

MILWAUKEE – In front of a standing room only crowd of 3,953 at the Al McGuire Center, the Marquette women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought 71-56 contest to No. 1 UConn on Saturday afternoon. The 71 points were the fewest the Huskies have scored this year while the 56 points were the most they have allowed to a BIG EAST opponent.

Lee Volker scored a team-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, going 3-of-6 from deep. Skylar Forbes added 15 points and Jaidynn Mason had 11. The trio accounted for 22 of the team’s 42 rebounds as they outrebounded UConn 42-29.

Marquette opened the game with the first five points, holding UConn without a bucket for the first four minutes, the longest the Huskies have gone without scoring to start a game this season. UConn countered though with the next eight over the ensuing three minutes. Despite shooting just 25.0% in the opening 10 minutes, the Golden Eagles trailed by just three, 13-10.

After UConn extended its advantage to seven early in the second, MU answered with seven straight. Five of those came from Forbes. An and-one from the junior that tied the game moved her across the 1,000-point mark for her career. Turnovers hit the Golden Eagles after that as the Huskies ramped up its pressure. The result was a 16-2 run before a steal in the backcourt by Bridgit Utberg in the final seconds of the half led to a layup for Volker.

Marquette trailed 36-24, the fewest points the Huskies had scored in a half this year.

Despite Sarah Strong scoring 15 of her 22 points in the third quarter after going 1-of-9 in the first half, the Golden Eagles remained within striking distance. A late bucket in the third by Azzi Fudd put MU’s deficit at 13 heading into the fourth

The Huskies opened the final quarter with an 8-0 run to force a timeout from the Golden Eagles’ bench as the deficit quickly rose to 21. MU scored on back-to-back trips going inside-out with Jada Bediako and Volker.

Marquette held UConn without a point during the final 3:37 of the game.

UP NEXT
Marquette will be off for the next seven days before traveling to Villanova on Feb. 22. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT and will air on Peacock and NBCSN.

NOTABLES

• Saturday marked just the third time Marquette has hosted a No. 1 team (0-3).
• Marquette is 0-9 all-time against No. 1. Eight of those contests came against UConn.
• Marquette held UConn to its lowest point total in a first quarter this season (13), the lowest in a half (36) and the lowest in a game (71).
• The loss was just MU’s second of the year when outrebounding its opponent (13-2).
• MU was outscored 28-11 in points of turnovers. The Golden Eagles have lost that stat in all 10 of its losses.
• Skylar Forbes eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career. The junior finished with 15 points to give her 1,011 points in her career.
• Jaidynn Mason collected a team-high eight rebounds, her first time leading Marquette on the glass this season.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.