11/18/2008
Blazers Roll In Opener
Marquette has three score in double figures in victory
Reprinted with permission from The News Dispatch

Ken Peterson
For The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - When Rob Smith was named Marquette's girls basketball coach, one of the his primary goals was to make the Blazers into a strong competitive program.

That goal is still several seasons away from becoming reality, but Marquette took the first step in the right direction Monday night against La Lumiere.

Janie Welsh had 14 points, Shannon Mussa had 13 and Jen Igra 10 as the Blazers rolled to a 54-27 victory over the Lakers at The Scholl Center.

Marquette (1-0) was in control throughout despite shooting just 22-of-72 (31 percent) from the field, and was never seriously challenged.

"It was under a new system and we performed well," Smith said. "I am very pleased with where we're at right now. Obviously, we've got a lot of work to do to get where we want to be. But for a first game, I'm very pleased with where we are."

Welsh missed seven of her first eight shots before catching fire. Welsh made six of her last seven, including a 5-of-6 effort in the second half.

Mussa scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half, and Igra scored five points in the first and third quarters.

"With the offense that we run, everybody is going to get touches and everybody is going to get looks," Smith said. "My job is to put them in the right position to do something with it and I think we did that.

"The problem is that we've got to start finishing better. We could have had a lot more opportunities to score had we finished or executed a little better."

Teresa Brooks had eight points, and Jessica Schwingendorf six for La Lumiere (0-2), who finished 9-of-46 from the field and made just four combined field goals in the first three quarters.

The Blazers never trailed, although the Lakers were able to get the Marquette lead down to 7-4 on a Brooks basket.

But an 8-1 run to end the first quarter gave the Blazers a 15-5 lead and control of the game.

La Lumiere was held to two field goals in the third quarter despite Marquette going through a scoring drought in the third quarter, and built a 21-point lead heading into the final stanza.

"We got frantic into our offense and luckily our defensive pressure was good and they missed shots," Smith said. "They weren't able to make a run because they weren't hitting shots. We were 7-14 last year and we're not good enough to let up. We have to play for a full four quarters and I think we played for about 3 1/2. Once we settled down, we executed better in the third quarter."

Welsh also finished with 15 rebounds, six steals and four assists for Marquette. Mussa had eight rebounds, and Caitlin Cavanaugh four steals.

The Blazers are back in action Friday at Culver Community.

"They pose some issues for us that we have to deal with," Smith said of the Cavaliers. "We know what they like to do."