Butler was held to 21.4% shooting from beyond the arc against Marquette. Photo courtesy of Butler Athletics.

NHU-HAN BUI | ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR | hbui@butler.edu 

The Bulldogs dropped a second-straight conference game as they lost 80-55 to Marquette.

Junior guard Halle Vice opened the scoring for the Golden Eagles, but Butler was able to quickly answer with a layup from junior forward Caroline Dotsey. The Bulldogs dominated in the paint, scoring all of their points there, but let Marquette pull away with a 10-point run — led by Vice and junior forward Skylar Forbes — to make the score 19-14.

After redshirt sophomore forward Mallory Miller scored three to open the second quarter, Marquette’s defense tightened down and held the Dawgs to just 28.6% shooting and 2-9 on three-pointers. Graduate guard Lee Volker and Forbes were left open several times, leading to easy threes that contributed to Marquette’s 16-2 run before halftime. 

Butler was able to find its footing again in the third quarter, as Dotsey downed two three-pointers to give the team offensive momentum. The Bulldogs scored 18 points to shrink the gap, but Vice and junior guard Jordan Meulemans — a transfer from Butler — scored five to end the quarter and keep the lead.

The fourth quarter saw the game’s tempo speed up as the Golden Eagles went on several scoring runs while Butler was unable to sustain its offense. With players getting exhausted, Marquette saw senior guard Olivia Porter step up and nail back-to-back threes to give the Golden Eagles a boost to finish strong.

Forbes finished with a game-high 26 points, and Marquette saw four of its starters — Forbes, Volker, Vice and Porter — reach double digits. Senior guard Jaidynn Mason paced the offense with seven assists, while Vice controlled the glass with nine rebounds.

Sophomore guard Lily Zeinstra — the Bulldogs’ leading scorer — was held to just three points, but tied her career-high of six assists. Dotsey led the Dawgs offensively with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Marquette’s defense held Butler to 35.4% shooting, and the Dawgs also made just six of their 28 attempts from beyond the arc.

With this loss, Butler drops to 4-6 on the season and 0-2 in the Big East. The Bulldogs look to regroup as they head home to take on Indiana State on Dec. 11.