Dec. 28, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Behind a career-high 33 points from sophomore Angel Robinson, the Marquette women's basketball team defeated Oakland, 78-68, Sunday afternoon at the O'Rena. With the win, the Golden Eagles improve to 9-4 overall, while the Grizzlies drop to 8-4 on the season.

Robinson finished the day making 12-of-15 shots from the floor, including 4-of-7 from 3-point land and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Sophomore Tatiyiana McMorris was the other Golden Eagle in double figures with 10 points. Collectively, Marquette shot 40.9 for the game (27-66), owned the rebounding advantage, 40-34, and forced 18 OU turnovers.

The Grizzlies made 48.2 percent of their attempts (27-56) for the game, and had three players in double figures led by Jessica Pike with 18 points. Melissa Jeltema and April Kidd added 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Marquette held the slim advantage at halftime, 36-35, due in large part to Robinson's 19 points. She made 8-of-10 attempts from the floor with three of those made buckets from long range.

Marquette trailed for much of the first half while OU opened a 7-0 run, which put the Grizzlies ahead 23-15 with 9:37 to in the first. The Golden Eagles answered with a 7-0 run of their own to come within one point, 23-22, with 6:56 remaining in the first.

Sophomore Paige Fiedorowicz scored a layup and drew a foul to tie the game, 25-25, and then MU took the lead thanks to Robinson's jumper with 4:21 to go in the first. With Oakland up by six points, 35-29 with a 1:13 to play in the first, the Golden Eagles rattled off seven straight points to go in the locker room ahead by one point, 36-35.

With the score at 41-40 in favor of Oakland four minutes into the second half, Marquette scored five straight points to go ahead, 45-40, with 14:03 to play. The Golden Eagles pushed that lead to 10 points, 54-45, with just over 10 minutes to play thanks to buckets by McMorris, Janelle Harris and Marissa Thrower, and a 3-pointer from Lauren Thomas-Johnson.

The Grizzlies came within three points on two occasions with the last time being with 5:19 to play (59-56). From then on, Marquette held as much as a nine-point lead over the last 2:31 of the game.

The Golden Eagles made 7-of-8 free throws over the final minute of the game to seal the win.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action to close out 2008 and the non-conference portion of their schedule hosting UW-Milwaukee on Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 3 p.m., at the Al McGuire Center.