Marquette Uses Fourth Quarter Rally to Push Past Villanova
Box Score | Marquette Quotes | Villanova Quotes
CHICAGO — No. 2 seed Marquette reasserted itself in the nick of time on Saturday, pulling away from seventh seed Villanova in the fourth quarter for 72-59 Big East quarterfinals victory at Wintrust Arena.
Four players scored in double figures and two others just missed as Golden Eagles (23-7) advanced to Sunday’s semifinal round.
Guard Selena Lott scored a team-high 17 points, guard Jordan King added 14 while Lauren Van Kleunen and Camryn Taylor had 12 and 11 points, respectively. Forward Altia Anderson and guard Isabelle Spingola each had nine, including a combined 13 points in the final period.
Forward Bridget Herlihy collected an game-high 22 points, Madison Siegrist had 21 and guard Mary Gedaka added 13 plus 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (18-13).
Marquette, seeking its fourth straight championship game berth, will meet either Creighton or St. John’s in Sunday’s semifinals.
Marquette led 17-11 after one quarter and 31-19 at halftime lead behind King’s 14 points.
But the Golden Eagles could shake the Warriors, who closed to within four at 43-29 following Siegrist’s 3-point play late in the third quarter. A pair of Herlihy free throws then made it a 2-point game and Gedaka hit 1-of-2 free throws with 30 seconds showing as Marquette’s lead slipped to 43-42.
That’s when the Golden Eagles reasserted themselves. Lott restored a 3-point lead with two free throws seconds later to close the quarter. In the fourth, Marquette pushed the lead to 10 at 62-52 midway through the quarter following a pair of Spingola 3 pointers and five Golden Eagles free throws. After that surge, Villanova never got closer than nine points.
The teams split two regular season games. Marquette took a 57-52 home win on Jan. 26 while Villanova earned a 61-47 payback decision on Feb. 21. The teams have played 26 times, but only four games in the Big East tourney.
Villanova, coached by Harry Perretta in his 38th and final Big East tourney, reached Saturday’s game thanks to 64-56 first-round victory over Xavier on Friday. Perretta retires at the end of the 2019-20 season after 42 years of coaching.
Prior to the game, the Big East honored Marquette’s first-year coach Megan Duffy as coach of the year. Lott earned second team all-conference selection while Taylor was all-freshman.
Villanova’s Siegrist was named league freshman-of-the-year and earned a spot on the Big East first team with Gedaka.