MILWAUKEE – When the chips were down, the Marquette women missed the chance to race to the top half of the Big East. Instead, visiting Providence kept the Golden Eagles in neutral with their 53-44 win at the Al McGuire Center Saturday.
With 1 minute 21 seconds remaining in regulation and a 46-44 Providence lead, Marquette junior guard Angel Robinson missed both free-throws of a double bonus. The Friars scored the last seven points of the game.
"You're not gonna win ballgames if you shoot that way," Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said. The Golden Eagles shot 44.4 percent from the line. "Our free-throw shooting was horrendous, and I don't understand it. Last game (vs. South Florida Feb. 9) we shot 80-something percent (21-24, 87.5%). This game, we'd shoot 8 for 18, with a bunch of that being bonus (free-throws) and now missing."
Marquette (14-10, 5-6, Big East) was in for a fight from the beginning. The Golden Eagles trailed by nine at 20-11 with 6:28 left in the half. A free-throw by freshman forward Sarina Simmons ended a 9-0 run to tie the game at 20, the second deadlock of the contest.
Guard Courtney Weibel's three-pointer gave Marquette a 23-20 lead, and they held on late in the half. The hosts held a 27-26 halftime lead.
Providence's Emily Cournoyer began the second half with a three and Brittany Dorsey's layup gave the Friars a two point lead at 31-27. They pushed the margin to nine at 38-29 with a 7-0 run. Marquette's Lauren Thomas-Johnson's trey capped a 12-2 run and gave the Golden Eagles a 41-40 lead with 5:27 remaining. And just like that, they lost the momentum again, especially on defense.
"That's where you have to be special on defense," Mitchell said. "You have to do something extra. We got the lead and we weren't special, and that's exactly it. We gave it right back to them. I'm really disappointed in our defense."
Bad defense and being careless with the basketball hurt Marquette all afternoon.
"You're not gonna win ballgames if you have 26 turnovers," Mitchell said. "And you're not gonna win ballgames if Jessica Pachko and Angel Robinson are (negatively) affecting the game."
Robinson had three points and fouled out. Pachko scored only two points. Simmons led the Golden Eagles with 14. Chelsea Marandola led three Providence (14-10, 5-6) in double figures with 14 points.
The loss kept Marquette in the same position they were about a week ago. "We didn't create separation," Mitchell said. "We're right in the middle of the pack with a lot of teams that we lost to, so it doesn't do us any good whatsoever."
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