Box Score | Butler Quotes

CHICAGO — Marquette took its first step toward a second consecutive Big East tournament title with Sunday's 73-61 quarterfinals victory over Butler.
 
But the top-seed Golden Eagles had to work for it, finally shaking off the pesky Bulldogs with a 12-0 fourth quarter run behind 10 late points from guard Amani Wilborn
 
Wilborn had four 3-pointers and closed with a season-high 26 points as Marquette (22-8) ran its winning streak to seven in the first of four Big East Sunday tourney games at Wintrust Arena.
 
Guard Natisha Hiedeman had 15 points while Allazia Blockton, the Big East player of the year, added 12 for the Golden Eagles.
 
Michelle Weaver scored 17 points, Tori Schickel had 16 and Kristen Spolyer added 10 for Butler (15-17).
 
The Bulldogs led 22-18 after a brisk opening quarter behind Weaver's seven points while WIlborn had more than half of the Golden Eagles' production.
 
A Danielle King 3-pointer with 1:40 left in a see-saw second quarter gave Marquette a 33-30 lead on the way to a 33-32 halftime advantage.
 
Marquette scored seven unanswered points late in the third quarter for a 54-47 lead — its biggest of the game to that point — before Spolyar hit a buzzer-beating 3 pointer to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 54-50.
 
With the game tied at 59-59 with 5:04 left, the Golden Eagles launched their game-winning run with Wilborn's 3-pointer while the Bulldogs went scoreless over a span of 3 minutes 49 seconds.
 
Marquette will next face off March 5 at 3 p.m. Central against the winner of the matchup between four-seed Creighton and five-seed St. John's taking place later today. The Golden Eagles swept the season series over the Johnnies and split a pair of games against the Blue Jays earlier this season.