State Basketball Roundup: Marquette, Notre Dame play in quarterfinals of Big East tournament

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Marquette will play Notre Dame at 8:30 tonight in the quarter-finals of the Big East men’s basketball tournament in New York. The 12th-ranked Golden Eagles are fresh off a double-bye, while the Number-24 Fighting Irish advanced last night with a 69-to-61 win over Rutgers. Pat Connaughton scored a season-high 21 points for Notre Dame, which is now 24-and-8 with a Number-six seed in the tournament. Third-seeded Marquette is 23-and-7. The Eagles beat Notre Dame by eight points at home 12 days ago. But one of the top players for the Irish, forward Jack Cooley, was out that day with the flu. Marquette coach Buzz Williams says he expects a better showing from his team than a year ago in the league tournament, when they got trounced by Louisville in their opener.

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The U-W Green Bay women advanced to the semi-finals of their Horizon League Tournament with an 80-to-59 home rout of Valparaiso last night. Senior Adrian Ritchie scored a career-high 27 points, including seven three-pointers. Green Bay never trailed. They led by 15 at the half and rolled from there, outshooting the Crusaders 48-to-33 percent. Tabitha Gerardot had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Valparaiso, which ends its season at 11-and-20. 20th-ranked Green Bay improved to 27-and-2, and will play fourth-seeded Detroit in the league semi-finals tomorrow.

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The season is over for the U-W Milwaukee women. The Panthers lost at Loyola 71-to-54 last night in the Horizon League quarter-finals. Milwaukee only shot 30-percent, and made just 3-of-17 from three-point range. Simone Law had 22 points and eight rebounds for Loyola, which improved to 16-and-14. Avyanna Young and Ashley Green scored 10 each for Milwaukee, which ended at 9-and-20 under first-year coach Kyle Rechlicz.

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For the first time since it began in 1976, the W-I-A-A girls’ state high school basketball tournament will be played outside of Madison. The Division-Five semi-finals begin at 1:35 this afternoon at the Resch Center, across from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Wausau Newman faces Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. And then undefeated South Shore plays Barneveld. The Division-Four semi-finals will be played tonight. Algoma goes against Cuba City. And Colfax will close out the evening against Racine Prairie. At least three new champions will be crowned in the five divisions. The only two returning champs are New London in Division-Two and Kewaunee in Division-Three. Last year’s Division-Four titlist, Neillsville, moved up to D-Three this year – and they enter their semi-finals tomorrow at 26-and-0. The girls’ tournament will be played in Green Bay for at least the next two years. It was moved due to scheduling conflicts with U-W hockey in Madison.

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