MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Marquette climbed out of an early hole and briefly led No. 17 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee, but the Gophers controlled the boards and left the Al McGuire Center with an 87-79 win.
The loss dropped the Golden Eagles to 1-1. Minnesota, now 2-0, was the first ranked nonconference opponent from the top 20 to visit the Al McGuire Center since Mississippi State came to town in November 2019.
Minnesota scored the game’s first 12 points. Marquette steadied itself and went on a 24-8 tear, hitting five 3-pointers along the way, and took a 24-20 lead just after the first break. The Golden Eagles were still up 26-24 midway through the period before an 8-0 Minnesota spurt flipped the game for good. The visitors went to the locker room ahead 41-33 and stretched the margin to 66-52 after three quarters.
Down 13 with a little more than four minutes left, Marquette made a final push and cut the gap to 77-71 with 2:22 to play. Minnesota answered with a late 3-pointer from Leah Harmon and closed it out at the free-throw line.
Halle Vice was the top scorer on the floor with 25, making 11 of her 14 attempts, for the 12th 20-point outing of her career. Yu Han Lin scored 14 off the bench, Kayl Petersen had 12 and MacKenzie Givens added 10. Marquette made 58.2% of its shots and assisted on 21 of 32 baskets.
The difference came on the glass. Minnesota won the rebounding battle 40-24 and its 21 offensive rebounds produced 21 second-chance points to Marquette’s two. Grace Grocholski led the Gophers with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Minnesota also scored 23 points off 17 Marquette turnovers.
Marquette stays home Tuesday, Nov. 10, to host Presbyterian at 11 a.m. for Milwaukee Public Schools Day.
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