Nov. 27, 2001
MILWAUKEE - Marquette pulled out the win over UWM in overtime, capturing the 67-65 victory Tuesday night at the Klotsche Center. The Golden Eagles (2-2) held on by two points after the Panthers missed the final attempt in the closing seconds of the game.
"It was an awesome game--right down to the wire," UWM coach Sandy Botham said. "We had some defensive lapses and we had some offensive lapses, but we fought hard and really made a game of it."
Tied at 63 a piece in overtime, Marquette pulled away when Sara Zawodny sank a pair of free throws and Crystal Weaver added one to go up by three points with 1:43 remaining. UWM guard Jessica Wilhite scored on a layup to trail by one point and then teammate Holly Tamm stole the ball on defense to give the Panthers possession with under a minute left.
After a timeout, center Maria Viall was called for an offensive foul on the inbound pass with 11.6 seconds remaining. Zawodny made just one free throw to lead Marquette over UWM by two points. Wilhite was the last to have the ball in her hands, but couldn't get off a clean shot with the Golden Eagles swarming her until the buzzer.
"Wow! They kept coming at us and wouldn't stop," Marquette coach Teri Mitchell said. "That's a credit to Sandy and her competitiveness. We knew it would come down to the last couple of baskets."
Marquette forward Crystal Weaver led all scores with 19 points, while a balanced attack aided UWM's scoring Viall had 12 points for the Panthers, followed by Wilhite's 11 points. Tamm and forward Angela Wenzel each pitched in 10 points, while Wenzel's came as a career high.
"It would have been great to beat Marquette. But it just shows us we have to play 40 minutes of basketball and then we're there," Botham said.
UWM finished with a grim 29.9 percent shooting from the floor, including just 17.4 percent from three-point range. Marquette finished with 38.7 percent shooting and made 6-of-14 from beyond the arc. Milwaukee outrebounded MU, 36-34, and recorded the advantage with 13 assists and 14 turnovers. Marquette tallied 12 assists and 18 turnovers.
The first half saw the Panthers connect on just 8-of-34 field goals and 1-of-13 three pointers. UWM's cold shooting allowed Marquette to take the 34-27 lead at halftime. The Panthers opened the second half with six straight points to cut the lead to one point. But MU quickly took over the momentum with a 10-0 run, and eventually led by as much as 13 points during the course of the half.
Tamm sank her first of two three-pointers to cut MU's lead to 53-43 with 11:36 remaining in the second half. She added the other trey three minutes later after Viall connected on one free throw to trim away at Marquette. Viall added two more from the line and then blocked a Marquette attempt following a Stefanie Kaufmann jumper. Viall's defensive stop allowed junior forward Angela Wenzel to make a short jumper off an assist from Wilhite. An 11-2 run in allowed UWM to come within two points with six minutes to go.
Down 59-57 with 3:48 remaining in regulation, the Panthers tied it up when Wilhite and Viall each made 1-of-2 free throws. The Panthers got a lot of stops down the stretch, but offensively couldn't get their jumpers to fall. The game was sent to overtime, a first for the Panthers since the 1999-00 season.
"At first we sat back and took the outside shot," Tamm said. "They weren't falling and when that happens, you pretty much have to take it in to the basket."
Taking it to the basket allowed UWM to connect at the charity stripe with 21-of-25 free throws. Marquette made just 61.9 percent from the line, sinking 13-of-21 attempts. Freshman guard Christine Gutierrez was perfect at the line on 7-of-7 free throws, and finished with a career-high nine points.
