March 3, 2008

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MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's basketball team was unable to overcome an 11-point deficit and dropped its regular season finale to USF, 61-56, Monday night at the Al McGuire Center.

Marquette struggled from the floor, connecting on 27.0 percent of its attempts (17-of-63), while USF connected on 36.8 percent (21-of-57).

USF's Shantia Grace led all scorers with 28 points, and Jazmine Sepulveda chipped in 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Freshman Angel Robinson led Marquette with 19 points off the bench and six rebounds. Mellen finished the game with 16 rebounds (10 defensive boards), exceeding both her prior career-high of 11 rebounds and the team season-high of 13 boards, previously held by senior Svetlana Kovalenko against Northwestern.

USF took to an early 7-2 lead and built their advantage to an 11-point lead with 5:37 left in the first half, 24-13. MU had its opportunities to turn the tables on the Bulls, drawing two consecutive offense fouls on junior reserve Jessica Lawson.

The team cut USF's lead to four, 27-23, with 38 seconds remaining in the half, but the Bulls made four free throws in the final 34 seconds of the first half to go into the intermission with a eight-point advantage, 31-23.

Coming out of half-time, Marquette cut USF's lead to six on three separate occasions, but two buckets from Grace including one from long range gave the Bulls back the double-digit lead, 41-30, with 14:01 left to play.

The Golden Eagles continued to chip away at the deficit over the next four minutes and came within five, 46-41, following a bucket by Robinson and a pair of free throw shots by Mellen.

With USF up by five points, 50-45, with 6:48 left to play, Marquette hopped on a mini 8-4 run over the next three minutes to close the game to one point, 54-53. Grace responded with another triple, but Robinson countered with a driving layup to keep MU within one point, 56-55, with two minutes left.

Sepulveda gave USF a four-point advantage, 59-55, with 39 seconds remaining after converting the three-point play, and Lawson sealed the win making both of her free throws after Marquette was forced to foul.

The Golden Eagles will open BIG EAST Conference Tournament play in Hartford, Conn., as the No. 8 seed and will take on No. 9 seed DePaul on Saturday, March 8, at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on BIG EAST Regional Television and will be televised locally on Time Warner Sports Ch. 32.