Nov. 10, 2008

MILWAUKEE -

Photo Gallery

A 23-6 run in the middle of the first half propelled the Marquette women's basketball team to a 67-46 victory over UW-Parkside in its exhibition finale Monday night.

Senior Krystal Ellis and sophomore Jocelyn Mellen led the Golden Eagles is scoring with nine points each, while Mellen also led the team in rebounding with five boards. Both Ellis and Mellen scored all of their points in the first half and played only 36 minutes combined.

A three pointer to open the scoring was the only lead that UW-Parkside would have as Mellen picked up the pace early on, accounting for eight of Marquette's first 11 points. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, Mellen spent a majority of the first half on the bench as she picked up three early fouls and eventually burned all five fouls with 7:12 left in the second half. In addition to nine first half points, Mellen racked up four first half rebounds, two steals and an assist.

With the score sitting at 13-10, All-America candidate Krystal Ellis made her presence felt with two straight three-pointers to push Marquette's lead to 19-10. After building their largest lead of the first half at 32-14, Marquette went into the break leading 36-20.

In the first, the Golden Eagles outscored the Rangers in the paint 16-4 thanks to Mellen's nine points and had 14-2 in ponts off the bench.

Coming out of the half, UW-Parkside picked up their defensive intensity and cut into Marquette's lead at 42-32 after two straight baskets by the Rangers. With their lead down to 10, the Golden Eagles used a 16-2 run to extend their lead to 58-34 with 5:11 to go and closed out the scoring at 67-46 on a lay-up by Marissa Thrower.

The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday when the welcome Oral Roberts to the Al McGuire Center at 2 p.m. CT for the 2008-09 regular season opener.

Postgame Quotes

Head coach Terri Mitchell

About sharing the ball...
"Krystal is an unbelievable player. We don't need to wait for Krystal to score for this team to be good. Everybody on this team needs to share the ball and quit looking for her to put the weight on her shoulders. We have plenty of other scorers on this team. This is what exhibition is for, to identify our errors and come back tomorrow ready to work."

About the team's defense...
"Your defense creates your offense and if you offense isn't there your defense still has to be there. We are working on some full court things and working on trapping. These are all building blocks. We played 14 players tonight. I am not playing 14 players on Saturday, but I am getting new players on the court and trying different combinations."

About the play of freshman Jessica Pachko...
"Jess Pachko is a big body that is posting well and rebounding and all she lacks right now is experience."