ISU loses to tough Marquette team

Playing against a Marquette team that is knocking on the door of a top 25 ranking, the Sycamore women's basketball team held tough for the first half of the game before falling 77-53.

The Sycamores fall to 0-2 on the season while the Golden Eagles improve to 3-0.

The Sycamores started the game off strong, playing tough defense and trading the lead back and forth the entire first half.

"I am extremely proud of the way we played, I thought our kids battled and played with a lot of heart and competed," head coach Jim Wiedie said. "I think they got after it a little more than they did up at Central Michigan. That [Marquette] was a really good team."

Junior point guard Kelsey Luna got the Sycamore offense going early when she drove to the basket and was fouled hitting both the bucket and the free throw to complete the three point play.

The Sycamores then built up their largest lead of the game 13-9 with just over 13 minutes to go in the half thanks to a three pointer by freshmen forward/ guard Deja Mattox.

Mattox came up big for the Sycamores again just four possessions later when she nailed another three ball from the exact same spot to put ISU up 17-13.

Marquette began to heat up towards the end of the first half, and took the lead at halftime 35-32.

During the first half the Sycamores held the Golden Eagle's star player Krystal Ellis to only three points and one rebound, and kept Marquette's largest lead to just five points.

"It was encouraging for us to limit one of their best players to single digits in the first half, she kind of took advantage of that in the second half, but we held our own in the first half," Luna said. "It was encouraging to run with the big boys."

However, after halftime the Golden Eagles used their size and speed to pull away from the Sycamores thanks to a nice recovery by Ellis. Marquette was able to outscore the Sycamores 42-21 in the second half and was able to keep the Sycamores from scoring a field goal the last 5:27 of the game.

"We had some good looks, didn't hit some shots, if a few of those go in, a few missed layups, a few more free throws, then maybe it's a different ball game," Wiedie said. "If we play that way every game the rest of the year, then we are going to be in a great position whether it is in conference play or in the non conference portion."

In the second half, Ellis shot 7-10 from the field for a total of 16 points in the half and 19 in the game. Marquette as a whole shot 72 percent from the field in the second half and held the Sycamores to a mere 23 percent.

Marquette was also able to block six of the Sycamore's shots in the second half and forced ISU to commit 23 turnovers.

Despite struggling offensively and shooting only 32 percent as a team from the field, Luna was still able to score 18 points for the Sycamores.

"Sometimes it's just not your night, sometimes you just can't help it and your shots just don't fall," Luna said. "Sometimes things just don't go your way offensively and that's when you have to get stops on the defensive end."

Mattox also added 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Senior guard Leah Phillips also put up eight points for the Sycamores.

The Sycamores will next travel to Detroit, Mich. on Tuesday, where they will take on the University of Detroit with a tip-off time of 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 92.7 FM.

( Blaine Kinsey is a sophomore communication major. He can be reached at sasspted@isugw.indstate.edu.)