Assistant coach Cara Consuegra saw the concerned looks on the faces of Marquette's players after coach Terri Mitchell was hit in the head and knocked out of the game after sustaining a concussion.
''We just talked about that she was going to be fine,'' Consuegra said. ''I had no idea if she was going to be fine, but I told them that and just told them to focus on the game because she wants a win.''
Angel Robinson and Sarina Simmons responded by scoring all the points for the Golden Eagles in an 11-0 run shortly after a deflected ball hit Mitchell hard in Marquette's 69-54 upset of No. 6 West Virginia 69-54 on Tuesday night.
''She just looked like she was in a lot of pain,'' Robinson said. ''We just gathered ourselves as a team and did it for her.''
The Mountaineers (16-1, 3-1 Big East) watched Marquette snap the nation's longest winning streak despite getting 15 points from Liz Repella. No. 3 Duke (15-0) and Florida Gulf Coast (12-0) are the last remaining undefeated women's teams in Division I.
''We weren't going to go undefeated. You're going to lose some games, but I never thought we would lose composure like we did,'' West Virginia coach Mike Carey said. ''This shouldn't happen with five seniors; should not happen. I'm more frustrated about that than I am with anything.''
Marquette (14-3, 2-2) trailed by two early in the second half when Mitchell was hurt. When she returned 11 minutes later, Marquette led by double digits to give her second win in 18 tries over a top 10 opponent.
A spokeswoman said the team has a day off on Wednesday and Mitchell is expected to return Thursday.
Robinson finished with 18, Simmons scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half and Tatiyiana McMorris added 12 as the Golden Eagles took control with Consuegra running the team.
McMorris deflected a West Virginia outlet pass into the side of her coach's head with 16:37 left. Mitchell collapsed into the bench, where her assistants caught her. After a delay of several minutes, play resumed with the 15th year coach appearing unable to focus.
She stayed there until the next media timeout, when she left the court slowly under her own power, and didn't return until 3:10 left. When she returned, she burst out in a big smile and looked more alert as Consuegra continued coaching.
''She kind of asked me what was going on and what plays were working for us,'' said Consuegra, who wants to be a head coach someday. ''She asked me if we were ready for press break, so I knew she was ready to go.''
Courtney Weibel gave Mitchell a huge hug on the bench as time expired and Consuegra took the mic immediately after the game to say Mitchell would be fine.
''It was surreal,'' said Consuegra, who said her only mistake was when the other assistants told her she forgot to make substitutions. ''I didn't have to make any real decisions. They played tremendous defense, they scored, when your team does that, it makes your job easy.''
Madina Ali, who finished with 14 points, gave West Virginia its final lead at 41-39 with 14:20 left, but Marquette took over from there using the 11-0 run for its first advantage in over 23 minutes at 50-41.
West Virginia never mounted a run down the stretch after getting to 50-45 because Robinson grabbed an offensive board and Weibel hit a 3-pointer to keep the momentum.
The Mountaineers had come in with the nation's stingiest defense, allowing just 46.2 points per game, but Marquette easily became the first team to score over 60 points against them this season.
It was Marquette's second straight win over a top 25 opponent after beating then-No. 15 Georgetown in double overtime on Saturday despite shooting 19 of 52 (36 percent) from the field against the Mountaineers.
''We haven't had this feeling in the last couple of years and it's just great to see everybody united and playing together,'' Robinson said.
Marquette held West Virginia to 6 of 28 shooting in the second half, including 0 for 9 from 3-point range, after the Mountaineers had hit 14 of 27 first-half shots and 3 of 5 3-pointers.
Repella was the most notable absence for West Virginia, scoring 13 of her 15 points in the first half.
''We weren't playing our defense. We were going one-on-one and we weren't moving the ball,'' Repella said. ''So, you've got to expect to lose when you do those things.''
