(MARQUETTE COMMUNICATIONS) MILWAUKEE –Skylar Forbes had a day to remember as she led Marquette to a decisive 80-55 win over Butler on Sunday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center. The junior forward finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Four of the Golden Eagle’s career-high six assists came on 3-pointers where Marquette knocked down 13 on the day while connecting at a 61.9% clip (13-of-21).
Slow to start, Marquette began to settle in midway through the opening quarter. A 3-pointer at the top of the key from Halle Vice tied things up at 10-10. Following a stop, it was Vice scoring from inside at the other end. The run continued with five more coming from Forbes. Butler kept the game tight though with a 3-pointer to open the second to pull within two at 19-17.
Back-to-back buckets from Lee Volker midway through the period gave the Golden Eagles a nine-point advantage and forced Butler to use its first timeout with 5:02 on the clock. Volker and Forbes continued to assert themselves out of the stoppage scoring all 16 Marquette points during a 16-2 run to close the half. The two were a combined 6-of-7 from the field during the stretch.
Holding the Bulldogs without a field goal over the final 4:44 of the half, Marquette took a 41-25 lead into the locker room. Just over half of MU’s points in the opening 20 minutes came from beyond the arc after shooting an efficient 7-of-11 from deep. Forbes had her biggest half of the season pouring in 16 points.
With Marquette’s lead standing at 17 after three-and-a-half minutes had passed in the third, Butler crept back into game with a 6-0 run through miscues by the Golden Eagles. While the lead hovered just over 10 for much of quarter, MU put the game out of reach in the fourth. The Golden Eagles held the Bulldogs to 5-of-20 shooting in the period while they shot 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 (83.3%) from beyond the arc. The 3-point barrage started the quarter with one from Mason. Forbes and Olivia Porter each had two during a 19-5 run that lasted more than seven minutes and saw Marquette’s lead balloon from 14 to 28 with less than two minutes to play
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