The Marquette Golden Eagles (5-0) were too much for the Wisconsin women's basketball team (2-3) to handle Wednesday night at the Al McGuire Center as the Badgers fell 78-64.
\We showed much better effort tonight than we did against Middle Tennessee State,"" Head Coach Lisa Stone said. ""But we just didn't have that killer instinct that we need to win ball games.""
Marquette had six players in double figures, led by junior guard Carolyn Kieger who finished with 12 points and 11 assists. The Badgers shot just 35.9 percent from the floor as freshman guard Janese Banks faltered, making three of 16 shots, and totaling 10 points. She also contributed eight rebounds.
Senior guard Stephanie Rich struggled all night. The Golden Eagles forced her to turn the ball over eight times, and the Badgers had 21 turnovers compared to Marquette's nine. MU took advantage of UW's mistakes, scoring 23 points off those turnovers.
It was nothing new for Marquette's defense. It came into the game allowing just 55 points per game while forcing more than 20 turnovers per game.
The Golden Eagles also spread the scoring out throughout their lineup. Along with Kieger's 10 points, other players who scored in double figures were junior forward Efueko Osagie with 16, sophomore forward Danielle Kamm had 14, sophomore center Christina Quaye pitched in 13 and sophomore forward Jasmine McCullough and freshman forward Svetlana Kovalenko each had 10.
The lone bright spot for the Badgers was freshman guard Jolene Anderson. She finished with her second double-double of the season, scoring 26 points and adding 10 rebounds in 34 minutes of action.
The Badgers kept the game close late in the first half, tying the game with less than six minutes to go. Junior forward Annie Nelson made her first career start and scored seven points in the opening 20 minutes to lead the Badgers. But Marquette went on a 10-1 run and led by nine at halftime.
The Golden Eagles opened up as much as a 20-point lead in the second half, but UW finished with a 6-0 rally to cut the final score to 78-64.
Though the Badgers still lead the overall series with Marquette 8-5, they have dropped four of the last five meetings with the Golden Eagles.
Wisconsin hits the road again this Sunday when they travel to Iowa State for a 2 p.m. contest.
-uwbadgers.com contributed to this report
