Karlen returns to starting lineup in victory over Hoyas King scores 23 points on National Marquette Day

By John Gunville john.gunville@marquette.edu

In the last act of National Marquette Day, the Marquette women’s basketball team looked to sweep Georgetown in the season series at the Al McGuire Center Saturday evening.

“I was excited to play and we were trying to tell the freshmen what it’s about,” senior guard Jordan King said. “Being able to perform in front of so many fans, I think it’s a really cool day.”

And the Golden Eagles did just that, defeating the Hoyas 66-49 to sweep the regular season series.

The Golden Eagles’ offense was on display in the first half as King led the charge with 11 points in the period.

Senior forward Chloe Marotta and first-year guard Mackenzie Hare each pitched in eight points.

The second half was more of the same for the Golden

Eagles. They ran their lead all the way up to 23 points early in the fourth quarter.

“I’m really proud of our overall team effort after our loss at Villanova on Wednesday,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said. “I thought we really settled in and took out a little bit of frustration on Georgetown after how we played the other night. One of our goals was to loosen things up on the offensive end and move the ball around a little bit better and I though we did a really nice job of that.”

Karlen’s Connections

The junior forward made her first start in eight games for the Golden Eagles. Karlen was the focal point of the first half offense for Marquette as she racked five of the Golden Eagles 12 first half assists.

“The biggest thing is just getting the rust off or getting her game minutes again,” Duffy said. “She was a great contributor to our offense with moving the ball five assists one turnover.”

As a team Marquette ended the game with 22 assists while Georgetown recorded just seven.

“To have 22 assists is a really crazy number in college basketball,” King said. “For us to achieve our goal doing that is really huge. It says something about our players and being able to buy into the coaches, buy into each other and trust.”

Statistical Leaders

King led all scorers with 23 points on 10-for-17 shooting with five assists, three rebounds and a steal. It was King’s 12th career 20-plus point scoring performance and ninth of the season.

Marotta finished the game with a double-double and game-high 13 rebounds. King and junior forward Liza Karlen each pitched in five assists.

Georgetown’s junior guard Kelsey Ransom led the Hoyas with 23 points.

“Ransom is one of the top players in the league,” Duffy said. “She got off to a hot start hitting jumpers and we told our team just to kind of sustain that wave. She’s so good going downhill as you saw in that in that fourth quarter. Just trying to make it as difficult as possible have a lot of bodies around her.”

Fourth Quarter for the First Year

With Marquette holding a substantial lead in the fourth quarter, first-year forward Charia Smith saw time on the court.

Smith, who has seen action in 14 of the team’s 23 games this season, finished with two rebounds on the night.

“She’s playing behind upperclassmen post players right now,” King said. “Her ability to continue to learn through practice, different film sessions and individuals, I think it’s great for her. She’s really bought into that, so I’m super proud of her.”

Next Up:

Marquette (15-8, 8-6 Big

East) sticks around Milwaukee for a matchup with No. 5 UConn (21-2, 13-0 Big East) at the Al McGuire Center Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. CST. “It’s a great opportunity to have them on our home court,” King said. “It’s no better way to then do it in front of Marquette Nation. I’m really excited for that and I know my teammates are as well.”

Men’s basketball moved into the top in this week’s Associated Press Top

Junior guard Tyler Kolek was named as one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award Feb. 6.

Women’s basketball’s game Feb. 8 against No. 4 UConn is a white-out.

Column

THIS WEEK: FINK ON NFL PRO BOWL

What the flag? I’ve been waiting to watch the Pro Bowl, the annual All-Star game held by the National Football League featuring the league’s star players, and when I turned it on, I laughed when I saw it was a flag football game.

I wanted to see a game where the crowd goes wild when they hear helmets smashing into pads executing the plays that have been carefully designed to outplay the opponent. This is football at its very core and while there is always the risk of injury to players, fans everywhere come alive every game-day during both the regular season and playoffs.

I am sure none of these players have played flag football since elementary school or maybe middle school gym class. These are world-class athletes who have trained for decades in how to be faster, stronger and more competitive. Now, they are being told to turn the aggressiveness off to play it safe which is being looked at as a good thing due to all the injuries that occur. However, the players still need to give the fans something to cheer for which is the full uniform and full contact aspect.

Football has been a rough tackle sport since it began over 100 years ago. While players have better protection with state of the art helmets, trainers and medical personnel, it always will be a tackle sport. Even with the life threatening injury to the Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and the history the NFL made by stopping that game, there was no discussion of canceling any other football games, just tackle rule changes.

The future of football is changing, as safety continues to play a factor in the way the game is played which will help allow for full padded football to be played. Rule changes that have been made over the past few years have tried to lessen the impact of vicious hits. There have been advances in helmets including the goofy looking “marshmallow padding” on the outside of the helmet that was used in the early preseason games and training camp. Concussions are a serious issue in the game and players are being watched constantly after taking a hit to make sure they are okay. There is clearly an effort afoot to make the game safer for the players while delivering the type of football that fans want to see.

In the last few years, the NFL has watered down the Pro Bowl to safeguard the players and eliminate injuries in a rather meaningless game as players don’t want to risk hurting.