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Jan. 14, 2005

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Led by a career-high from Jasmine McCullough, Marquette ended its three-game slide with a 71-57 win at Syracuse. The junior forward was 9-of-14 from the floor, while pulling down seven rebounds, blocking four shots, and dishing out three assists in 32 minutes of action.

"Every game in the BIG EAST is a battle, especially when you're on the road." said head coach Terri Mitchell. "We knew coming in that this would be a tough game, and with us having lost three in a row, we needed to play every possession."

Marquette raced out to a 9-2 lead early in the game, thanks to five points from Krystal Ellis. The freshman connected on a three-pointer and a jumper early on. She had seven points in the first frame.

The Golden Eagles led, 15-9, at the 12-minute media timeout, after three consecutive field goals from Jasmine McCullough. But the Orange went on a mini 6-2 run over the next five minutes and eventually tied it up at 21-21 with 3:10 to play. Ellis ended the first half scoring with a nifty reverse layup with 2:27 to play, which gave MU a 23-21 edge at the break. Neither team got into the bonus in fouls, as the first 20:00 of action took just 39 minutes to play.

MU began the second half with five straight points from McCullough - on a jumper and a traditional three-point play, just :52 ticks into play. She scored seven of Marquette's first nine points of the half.

After two Krystal Ellis free throws gave Marquette its biggest lead of the game - nine points, at 38-29 - McCullough added another basket to put the Golden Eagles up 11, at 40-29 with just under 14:00 to play.

A driving layup by Danielle Kamm with 8:10 to go extended the Golden Eagles lead to 13, at 48-35. MU took its biggest lead of the game - 14 points - after Erin Monfre connected on two free throws after a technical foul was called on the Syracuse bench with 2.6 seconds to play.

Ellis scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line, while Christina Quaye added 14 points and five rebounds.

For the game, Marquette shot 34.5% from the floor (20-58), including 3-of-4 from the perimeter. They were 14-of-18 from the charity stripe (77.8%), including 12-of-14 in the second half of play.

"Free throws really sealed the deal for us tonight." Mitchell said. "Down the stretch, we hit some big ones from the line and late in the game, some of our freshman we able to connect. That will help us later on as the season progresses."

The Golden Eagles return to action on Wednesday, when they host Pittsburgh at the Al McGuire Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.