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Coach Pirtle
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Carla Jacobs
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Shelly Bellman
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However, pre-game
high-hopes and even higher early-game defensive intensity were not enough to
lift the Bearcats over the opportunistic Golden Eagles who took advantage of
countless UC offensive miscues and poor defensive box outs, pulling away during
the one-sided 20 minutes of action for the win, 76-59.
Marquette, who is 12 points
from being undefeated this season, improves its outstanding record to 17-2 and
7-1 in the Big East. The loss, Cincinnati’s sixth in the last nine games, drops
the Bearcats record to12-8 on the season, 3-5 in Big East play. UC also falls
into sixth place in the conference rankings with their defeat this weekend.
After fighting to stay
competitive in their showdown with one of the most explosively dynamic squads --
offensively and defensively -- in the Big East during the first half, 33-26,
Cincinnati saw many of their first-half mistakes come back to haunt them in the
second half as they failed to remedy them. While the Golden Flashes amassed the
majority (22) of their 37 combined points off turnovers and second-chance points
during the first period, MU accrued the 17 hustle-bred tallies during the second
period that ultimately doomed the Bearcats chances of claiming a victory. This
was largely the case because of the manner by which those points were
accumulated.
The points Marquette
collected came in “spurts”, as UC head coach Laurie Pirtle and I referred to
them after the game. Seemingly every time the Bearcats would fight back from a
sizeable deficit during the second half, Marquette would counterpunch with a
bucket of their own and then opportunistically force UC into one of its now
characteristic turnovers -- the Bearcats have turned the ball over more than 20
times in seven of their last nine games -- that would generally be forced ahead
for an easy lay-in. This seemed to
happen time-and-time again, where MU would undo the hard work the ’Cats would do
over the course of three or four minutes to get back into the contest over the
course of a mere 35 to 40 seconds.
The Golden Eagles quick
strikes are the prime reason that the Bearcats, who committed just nine of their
21 turnovers and allowed only six offensive rebounds during the second 20
minutes of action, lost much of their offensive and defensive intensity during
the game’s final period. The
momentum built over the course of their several come-from-behind efforts was
deflated every time MU would capitalize on one of the numerous Bearcat
mistakes. While the ‘Cats were able
to whittle the score down to three points, 41-38, with 12:53 to play, Marquette
punished the them for their offensive and defensive shortcomings by going on an
11-0 run to pull away, 52-38. MU would go u by as many as 19 points in the
closing minutes of the game.
The game-long derailment of
Cincinnati’s offense was further exacerbated by Marquette’s explosion of
defensively-driven offensive output in the second half. As Marquette’s defense aided their
struggling offense by benefiting from the plethora of Bearcat mistakes scoring
the ball they helped induce, it was simultaneously helping to take their
opponent out of the contest on the defensive end. In addition to easy fastbreak
or tip-in buckets, MU was given numerous open looks that seemed to derive from
deflated Bearcat defense. This is
largely evidenced by the fact that Marquette raised their shooting percentage
from a dismal 38-percent first-half effort to a steamy 49 percent for the rest
of the game. Additionally, the
usual ball hawking Bearcat defense that had forced the Golden Eagles into an
unusually high seven turnovers during the opening period, could muster only
another four giveaways spanning the duration of the remainder of the game.
Though their
post-intermission act left much to be desired, the Bearcats early-game
performance kept them within striking distance of one of the top teams in the
country. The game was nip and over
the course of the first 15 minutes, as neither team could build a lead greater
than three points to that point. The first half featured nine lead changes and
two ties. Both squads shot 38 percent from the floor but 12 offensive rebounds
helped the Golden Eagles amass more scoring opportunities during the period, as
MU managed 31 field-goal attempts to UC’s 21.
The Bearcats had more
turnovers (12) and fouls (9) than they had field goals made (8) in the first
stanza.
UC hit the first basket of
the game on a Jill Stephens’ long-range jumper. The Bearcats and Marquette
traded baskets until the Golden Eagles established a five-point lead with 5:11
remaining in the half. Marquette equaled its largest lead of the half on a
Krystal Ellis trey, making the score, 27-20, with 2:13 to play. The Bearcats
replied with back-to-back 3-pointers by freshmen Stephanie Stevens and Carla
Jacobs. Stevens hit her first collegiate 3-point field goal with 1:53 to play
and Jacobs drilled a trey at the 1:15 mark to pull the Bearcats within three,
29-26. MU used a 4-0 run to close out the half.
While her career-high 17
points were enough to make it one of her best individual displays, Carla Jacobs
(the BCI Player of the Game) also added four rebounds, two assists and two
steals to the UC cause. Michelle Jones added 10 points and a season-high three
assists in addition to a game-leading seven rebounds (four offensive). Angel Morgan added nine points, five rebounds and three assists for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats will have no
time to dwell on this tough defeat, as they will host No. 5/7 Connecticut on
Tuesday, Jan. 30 with a 7 p.m. tip off.