Box Score
Marquette Quotes | St. John's Quotes
CHICAGO — Natisha Hiedeman collected a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds as top-seed Marquette rolled into the BIG EAST Women’s Tournament Semifinals with Sunday’s 88-57 victory over St. John’s at Wintrust Arena.
The Golden Eagles (25-6) trailed only briefly before taking command late in the second quarter and building big leads in the second half.
Allazia Blockton had 17 points, Amani Wilborn had 13 and Lauren Van Kleunen added 11 for Marquette, which shot 50 percent (35-of-70) from the field.
Curteeona Brelove, Akina Wellere and Alisha Keebe each had 13 points for the No. 9 seed Red Storm, who ended at 15-16.
Hiedeman hit a buzzer-beating 3 pointer for a 19-10 Marquette lead after one quarter. The Golden Eagles then scored eight unanswered points to open a 27-10 second quarter advantage en route to a 40-19 halftime lead.
Blockton’s 3 point jumper pushed the Marquette lead past 30 points late in the third quarter and the Golden Eagles entered the final period with a 62-30 advantage.
The teams split their regular season games, both relatively close affairs. The Golden Eagles were 83-73 winners on Jan. 20 at the Al McGuire Center while the Red Storm took an 81-74 decision on Feb. 15 in Queens, N.Y.
Marquette entered the tourney with three losses in its last six games but still captured the outright regular season title and top tourney seed. Hiedeman was unanimous BIG EAST Player of the Year while Blockton was honored as Sixth Woman and Scholar Athlete of the Year.
St. John’s Tiana England landed conference honorable mention honors while Kadaja Bailey was named to the all-freshman team.
Marquette had a first-round bye while St. John’s advanced with Saturday’s 76-51 first round victory over No. 8 Seton Hall behind Wellere’s game-high 18 points.
The Golden Eagles meet either No. 5 Villanova or No. 4 Georgetown as tourney play continues with semifinals at 3 and 5:30 p.m. (CDT) on Monday. Tuesday’s championship is set for 7 p.m. and televised on Fox Sports 1.