No. 22 Marquette women dominate 1st half, sink Friars 85-46

MILWAUKEE — Natisha Hiedeman scored 25 points, Erika Davenport had a career-high 20 rebounds in her double-double and No. 22 Marquette cruised past Providence 85-46 in the Big East opener on Saturday.

Allazia Blockton was held to six points, a dozen below her career average, but that was enough to become the all-time leading scorer at Marquette with 1,989 points, surpassing Jerel McNeal with 1,985 for the men.

Davenport, who was 8 of 13 from the field and made her only 3, was 2 of 8 from the foul line for 19 points, four off her career best.

The Golden Eagles (10-3) took care of this one early, closing the first quarter with an 11-2 run to lead 16-6 and adding the first nine of the second quarter. With the last nine points off the half, Marquette led 40-12 at the break. Hiedeman had 18 points at the intermission as the Golden Eagles shot 50 percent. The Friars were at 10 percent, going 3 of 30, including 1 of 17 in the first quarter when they started a streak of 19-straight misses.

Jovana Nogic led Providence (8-5) with 12 points.