Golden Eagles’ Van Kleunen has record-setting night
The 5-mile trip between Marquette University and UW-Milwaukee is a short one, and it was the Golden Eagles’ turn to hop on the bus and head to the Klotsche Center on Wednesday night.
Thanks to a big night from Lauren Van Kleunen, they returned to campus riding high after a 59-51 victory.
The graduate forward set a pair of records – one personal and one school – with 25 points on 12-for-20 shooting as she played in her 135th game since joining the Golden Eagles all the way back in the 2016-17 season.
“It’s awesome to have that record,” the Mason, Ohio, native said in reference to her games-played mark. She was tied with Allazia Blockton, who played in 134 games from 2015-19. “It sounds like I’m a little old. But I prefer the word ‘experienced.’ ”
The game was mostly a slugfest, with the teams combining for a grand total of one three-pointer in the first 361⁄2 minutes before the Panthers connected on three in the closing minutes.
UWM dropped two straight after facing (and beating) the last in-state rival it had played, the Wisconsin Badgers, on Nov. 24 before finally righting the ship last time out with a convincing 66-47 victory at Robert Morris.
MU, meanwhile, opened Big East play by drilling Xavier and Butler at the Al McGuire Center – a two-game stretch in which the Golden Eagles trailed by a grand total of just 2 minutes.
The Golden Eagles never trailed in this one, were tied just once, at 2-2, and had opened a 29-18 halftime lead thanks to a stifling defensive effort that saw the Panthers connect on just seven shots (only 1 of 8 three-pointers) while committing 10 turnovers in the first two quarters.
MU had limited its opponents to just 35.5% shooting in eight games, so the stinginess came as no surprise.
UWM coach Kyle Rechlicz went with twin towers Megan Walstad and Emma Wittmershaus to start but neither was able to establish herself with the ball nor control Van Kleunen.
“I give a lot of credit to Marquette, because they are very physically tough. And they’ve got a post player that was named one of the top 30 seniors in the country, and she one of the top 30 seniors in the country,” Rechlicz said of Van Kleunen.
“When you’re playing a team like that, you have to pick your battles. And for us, it was let’s see if Megan and Emma can play a little one-on-one in the post maybe with a few digs. We were really trying to shut down their guards, which we did a great job of.
“But it’s tough when you’ve got multiple options like that.”
MU out-rebounded UWM, 38-29, with Chloe Marotta leading the way with 10 to go along with 13 points as the Golden Eagles avenged last season’s loss to the Panthers at the Al McGuire Center.