Lee Volker led Marquette with 20 points, but the Golden Eagles didn’t do enough scoring overall.Andrew FleckThu, January 15, 2026 at 2:35 AM UTC·4 min readSeton Hall won one hell of a 22 minute basketball game on Wednesday night at Walsh Gym, surpassing Marquette 42-41, and it was only that close because Jordan Meulemans hit a three at the horn to drag the Golden Eagles within one.
“But wait,” you say, “college basketball games are 40 minutes long, aren’t they?” They sure are, and that’s why I can’t imagine the thoughts inside Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra’s head right now.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementJada Bediako capped off a 16-0 Marquette run in the first quarter to put the Golden Eagles up 20-5 with 2:21 left in the frame. Heck, if you want, call it a 20-2 run, whatever, the point is: Marquette was up 15 with 32 minutes and change to play. However, the story of this game is not “Seton Hall whittled away at a 15 point margin for 32 minutes.” Remember I said Seton Hall won a 22 minute game.
You see, the Pirates scored the last four points of the first quarter to start off what would be a 17-0 run that lasted until there were less than two minutes left in the first half. Yes, that means Marquette went over 10 minutes without scoring. Yes, it means Seton Hall started the second quarter off on a 13-0 run. Yes, it means that the Pirates were up 22-20 at the end of the run, completely wiping out Marquette’s 20-5 margin out of the gate.
You want to win a basketball game? DON’T LET THE OTHER TEAM ANSWER YOUR 16-0 RUN WITH A 17-0 RUN. I know, I have crazy ideas about things sometimes.
AND YET, it maybe shouldn’t have mattered anyway. Marquette scored the final five points of the first half, and then the first four coming out of the locker room. That’s 9-0 Golden Eagles right there, and Halle Vice’s layup had Marquette up seven. A Skylar Forbes bucket in transition pushed the lead to eight, and MU started trading buckets with Seton Hall there. It looked for a little bit that the trading back and forth could end up benefiting Marquette because Seton Hall couldn’t crack into the margin.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement…. or, rather, they didn’t until they scored 10 straight to go up by two, 41-39.
Another crazy idea: Don’t get outscored 27-0 between two different extended runs.
It was Pirates by one heading to the fourth quarter, but over and over again, Marquette made the play to put them back out in front. Marquette’s last lead of the night came on a three-pointer from Lee Volker with 3:41 to play, and two free throws from Volker pulled Marquette even at 54 with 2:51 to play. This was anyone’s game….. and then Marquette didn’t get another field goal until there was 14 seconds left. Seton Hall wasn’t exactly impressing the Russian judge themselves, but Mariana Valenzuela had a bucket on her way to a career high 26 points, and when Marquette couldn’t get anything to drop, SHU was able to drag that two point edge into the final minute and ice the game at the free throw line.
Oh, and to add injury to insult, Jaidynn Mason may have suffered a major non-contact injury when she came up limping after losing the ball out of bounds going for a transition layup with 1:54 to play. This, on a night when Halle Vice put up 19 points and 13 rebounds after being declared questionable three hours before tipoff.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLee Volker led Marquette in scoring with 20 points on 4-for-7 long range shooting before she fouled out in the final minute. She also had six rebounds, and Mason had nine assists…. against seven turnovers…. before being carried away from the court in Walsh Gym. Skylar Forbes? Not a great night for her to disappear, finishing with five points on eight shots, but she did add three rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
It wasn’t a must win game for Marquette’s NCAA tournament resume situation, but it would have been a very helpful win, and the Golden Eagles just immediately threw their chance at calmly controlling this one straight in the trash in the second quarter.
Highlights, such as they are, courtesy of GoMarquette.com and ESPN+:
Up Next: Marquette will swing back to Milwaukee for a game this weekend before heading back to the New York City area next Wednesday. On Saturday, MU will host Georgetown for a 2pm Central time tipoff on ESPN+. The Hoyas are 10-7 overall this year but 3-5 in Big East play. That said, they are coming off a 59-34 victory on Tuesday night over a St. John’s team that beat MU in Milwaukee.
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