PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — The Marquette women's basketball team (4-0) earned its highest-ranked win in program history Saturday afternoon as it took down No. 3 Texas 68-61 in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
"It's an incredible night for us to kick off our first night here beating Texas, this is one of the best wins in program history for Marquette," said Marquette head coach Megan Duffy. "I'm so proud of Rose (Nkumu) and Jordan (King), but also our entire team for giving every ounce of energy. Our toughness was incredible tonight, I thought we played smart, tough basketball."
In what was a near start-to-finish lead for MU, the Golden Eagles got out to a strong start and turned efficient offense into a 20-14 lead after a quarter, with seven different MU players getting in the scoring column in the first ten minutes. Both offenses fell stagnant in the second quarter, shooting a combined 8-for-35 in the period, but Marquette was able to remain on top as it took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
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MU came out of the gates firing in the third quarter, led by a 6-0 personal run by junior guard Rose Nkumu on three Marquette steals, but the Longhorns closed out the quarter on a 12-0 run to make it a one-point MU lead heading into the final frame.
Senior guard Jordan King caught fire in the fourth, scoring 15 of Marquette's 26 points, as she went on to finish with a career-high 25 points. Two of her biggest shots of the game came from the charity stripe, when she stepped up with 21.3 seconds remaining and a three-point lead, then hit both free throws to give MU a cushion.
In total, Marquette led for 38:42 of 40 minutes in the contest. It trailed for just 36 seconds, early in the first quarter. The Longhorns were held to just 31.4 percent (22-of-70) shooting in the contest.
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Texas was paced by Sonya Morris, who finished with 13 points in the game.
- Rose Nkumu finished the game with a career-high.
- Jordan King went for a game-high and career-high 25 points. This was the second time this season and fifth time in her career that she has finished with 20-plus points.
- Liza Karlen finished with eight points and 11 boards. This was her second double-digit rebounding game this season, and 12th of her career.
- Marquette's most recent win over a Top-5 team came back on 1/13/09, when they it defeated #4 Notre Dame.
- Marquette's saved its highest-scoring quarter for the fourth, scoring 26 points in the frame.
- Marquette finished the game shooting 36.2 percent (21-of-58) from the floor, 30.8 percent (4-of-13) from 3-point range and 64.7 percent (22-of-34) from the free throw line.
- With the win, Marquette is now 2-1 all-time against Texas and 11-15 all-time against current Big 12 teams.
