ALTON – The Marquette Explorers girls basketball team hosted the Althoff Crusaders in Gateway Metro Conference action Monday night.
The visitors got off to a strong start and went on to win the game 42-37. It was Althoff’s fourth win in a row as it is now 5-5 on the season and 3-0 in the GMC.
The Explorers fall to 3-4 on the season and 1-2 in conference play.
Allie Weiner scored the first basket of the game to put Marquette ahead, but that would go on to be the only time the Explorers led the game.
From there Althoff went on a 17-point run.
Isabella Border opened Althoff’s account with a three to take the lead, followed by back-to-back baskets from Kamora Davis and another basket from Border to get the game to 10-2, forcing Marquette into a timeout.
Out of the timeout, it was still all Crusaders as Reece Distler scored followed by another free throw from Davis.
Marquette’s head coach Whitney Sykes-Rogers was issued a technical foul, sending Distler to the foul line who made both her shots. She then scored another basket to make it 17-2.
Jami Jones finally stopped the Althoff run, but Gabby Dalke drilled a three nearly as time expired to make it 20-4 after the first quarter. The Explorers turned the ball over eight times in the first, 19 times total.
“We have to start on the hop. We can’t get down,” Sykes-Rogers said postgame. “We don’t score enough points to get down by 16 in the first quarter and expect to come back.”
Things did get better for Marquette. They clawed back to a 26-15 halftime deficit, outscoring the Crusaders 9-6 in the second quarter.
Something that hurt the Explorers was having to play most of the first half without Allie Weiner as she had racked up three fouls. She was on and off the bench throughout the second half, ending the night with seven points.
“She started to get on a roll there at the end, but we had to take her out, put her back in; she never got into a rhythm,” Sykes-Rogers said. “That hurts, because she has to be an offensive threat for us to stay in games.”
Other players stepped up including Kel’c Robinson and Laila Davis. Those two helped the Explorers open the second half on a 7-4 run, making it an eight-point game at 30-22.
The Crusaders raised the lead to 12 and led 36-24 after three quarters of play.
Marquette gave a valiant effort in the fourth quarter, but the rally fell short.
Althoff increased the lead again to 14 points at 40-26, but that’s when Marquette came to life.
Robinson and Weiner hit back-to-back threes as Sykes-Rogers immediately called a full timeout to come up with a play.
It worked and led to another basket from Weiner, making it a six-point game at 40-34 with 1:56 remaining. But some late turnovers and missed shots sealed the deal for the Explorers who only ever led after the first basket.
“We tell the girls all the time, the sense of urgency has to start off well,” Sykes-Rogers said. “Last three-quarters of the game, we played with more intensity. We were able to get easier shots, easier things. When [Althoff] was allowed to set up their defense, it wasn’t as easy. I just think, we know that from now on, we’re capable, we just have to start the game like that.”
Marquette did start strong in its only other GMC contest. The Explorers led Father McGivney 14-8 after the first quarter and 20-14 at halftime. The game would go into overtime tied up at 34, and the Griffins would outscore Marquette 8-5 in OT to win 42-39.
Marquette’s lone GMC win at the moment comes against Christ Our Rock Lutheran via forfeit.
So, a three-point loss to McGivney, and now a five-point loss to the Crusaders.
Sykes-Rogers knows her team is at the same level as the others in the GMC.
“All three teams are similar in talent wise I believe,” she said. “Again, Althoff did a great job to start the game and we didn’t. But, I believe we’re all very similar. The good thing is, we still have one more game against each of them. I’m hoping we just get better from here.”
Davis ended up as Marquette’s leading scorer on the night with 11 points. Robinson added nine and Weiner had seven. Delany Ortmann scored four points off of the bench, Caylee Rhodes had three, Jami Jones had two, and Kaylin St. Peters had one point.
It’s another year of being a relatively young team for the Explorers.
“Especially coming off the bench,” Sykes-Rogers said. “We have a lot of freshmen, sophomores coming off that bench. Delaney Ortmann came off the bench and gave us amazing minutes. I told her the other day, ‘You’re capable of doing that all the time, you have to do that all the time. If you do that, you’ll have as much playing time as anyone else.’ But we have kids coming off the bench and playing their role a little bit, defensively and offensively.”
Althoff had two players in double digits. Reece Distler led with 13 points and Davis added 12. Border scored nine points and Molly Distler and Dalke each scored four.
Althoff will look to remain perfect in conference play on Thursday at Maryville Christian with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
The Explorers host Hillsboro on Wednesday and then GMC foe Metro-East Lutheran on Thursday. Both games are set to start at 7:30 p.m.
“Hopefully we just get better from here,” Sykes-Rogers said. “That’s all we can do.”
