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The Marquette girls basketball team got off to a slow start offensively Wednesday.
The Lady Crusaders went scoreless for the first 3:49 and didn’t make a field goal in the first 5:12.
However, Marquette stepped up its defense and the shots eventually started falling as the Lady Crusaders pulled away for a 49-35 victory over Hall in a non-conference game in Spring Valley.
“I thought we played well,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “The first game (on Saturday) was tricky. We didn’t have that many practices and we didn’t shoot it like we wanted to. Today, we came out and it was a little more like what I’m used to seeing in practices.
“Right now, defense is our strong suit. The offense will come along. We played great defense and held a pretty good team in check through three quarters. I’m happy overall with the performance.”
Hall score the game’s first five points until freshman Lilly Craig split a pair of free throws.
Eva McCallum hit a jumper to end Marquette’s field goal drought and Molly Snook sank a couple 3-pointers as the Lady Crusaders ended the first quarter on a 9-3 run.
Josie Eager scored baskets on Marquette’s first two possessions of the second quarter to extend the lead to 13-8, and the Lady Crusaders upped their ball pressure.
“The second quarter was huge,” Price said. “We started denying the wings a little more and got into transition a little bit. It’s something we stressed all week — we have to get in transition and get easy buckets. Then the 3s started falling and that’s a bonus.”
The Lady Crusaders forced seven turnovers in the second quarter that they turned into eight points as they extended their lead to 26-13 by halftime.
“We played good, solid defense,” Eager said. “We forced a lot of turnovers early in then first half and in then second half that turned into transition and we got easy buckets. We were able to play calm basketball, which was good.
“Coach told us to attack the screens a little harder and help. We were able to trust that if we did get beat, somebody would be there to pick up the back end. That helped.”
Eager scored eight of her 16 points in the second quarter, while Craig caught fire from beyond the arc in the third quarter with three 3-pointers. She finished with five 3s and scored 16 points.
Molly Snook added 11 points.
“It makes everyone’s job easier,” Eager said about having a balanced offensive attack. “We’re able to trust that we don’t have to rely on one girl to score. On Saturday in our loss, we couldn’t find anyone who was hot. Tonight, once one person got hot, another person would make a shot. It was a pinball effect and everyone starts to get going.”
The Lady Red Devils trailed 41-23 after three quarters and fell behind by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.
Jaclyn Cinotte led Hall with 11 points, while Zoe Morris added seven points.
“We don’t have a traditional point guard like we’ve had in past years,” Hall coach T.J. Orlandi said. “None of the girls have really played it. We’re trying to find somebody who can step up and do it.
“(Without a true point guard), I think it affects us just getting started in the offense. A lot of times, you see it off the initial pass or second pass. We’re not crisp getting into our offense like in years past.” Marquette (1-0) plays Thursday at home against Henry-Senachwine/Lowpoint-Washburn.
“It’s good (to get our first win),” Eager said. “I knew we’d get it at some point. We’ve had a lot of big changes this year, so I’m glad we’re starting to figure it out early.”
Hall (0-3) plays Saturday at Putnam County.
“We’re just going to keep working and keep grinding in the gym,” Orlandi said. “We’re trying to get everybody into shape as much as we can. It’s tough because we’re at 12 players (in the program). We want to get out and run, get in game shape and get used to playing in masks, but we can’t afford to lose anybody else.”