No. 23 Marquette 62, Villanova 57

Published Feb. 2, 2011 1:54 a.m. ET

foxsports

Marquette has big plans for a snowy Wednesday.

Katherine Plouffe hopes to go sledding, Paige Fiedorowicz intends to stay indoors on her couch all day and keep warm.

Villanova? They just want to go home.

Plouffe had 15 points and eight rebounds and No. 23 Marquette went on an 11-0 run straddling halftime to take control, beating snowed-in Villanova 62-57 on Tuesday in a game moved up two hours because of the weather.

The early start didn't help the Wildcats (8-13, 0-8 Big East) leave town and Marquette (18-4, 6-3) didn't make it easy on them in the Al McGuire Center, either.

''A friend actually texted me earlier this morning and said there's 'life-threatening conditions' so I knew we weren't going anywhere,'' said Villanova's Heather Scanlon, who finished with 15 points.

Milwaukee is under a blizzard warning until Wednesday afternoon and shortly before the start of the game, Villanova learned its charter flight back to Philadelphia would be canceled until conditions improved.

The Wildcats said they planned to get back to the hotel and catch up on their studies. Popcorn, movies and dwelling on this loss are strictly prohibited.

''It would be a lot better stuck in the snow with our first Big East win,'' Amanda Swiezynski said. ''We're missing a lot of school, so we're doing a lot of homework.''

The Golden Eagles moved into the rankings for the first time in four years bolstered by wins over three ranked opponents, including then-No. 6 West Virginia. Marquette looks poised to reach its first NCAA tournament since 2007.

''Us seniors have been talking about it since we've been freshmen, we've got to do this,'' said Fiedorowicz, who scored 13 points. ''To see our record now, it just means so much to us.''

Villanova hung tough under associate head coach Joe Mullaney after trailing by as many as seven points early in the second half. Laura Sweeney made two free throws and Rachel Roberts made a jumper to tie it at 48 with 4:07 left.

Mullaney was filling in for 33-year veteran coach Harry Perretta, who had the flu, but the Wildcats could never take the lead in the second half after being up by as many as seven in the first.

Marquette's 11-0 run turned a six-point deficit into a 32-27 lead just over a minute in the second half, holding on from there despite the repeated runs by the Wildcats.

''It wasn't so much of what they did as what we didn't do,'' Scanlon said. ''We lost the momentum.''

About 15 percent of the announced attendance of 1,132 made it despite the weather, which was expected to affect Philadelphia on Wednesday and could delay the Wildcats' return even longer.

''Tomorrow was an off day anyway for them,'' Mullaney said. ''Hopefully, we can get out of here.''