Building off confidence, experience and a competitive fierceness, the reigning WNIT champions can be sure that they made some noise when they defeated Michigan State in the WNIT championship 81-66.
The Marquette women’s basketball team is ranked 22 to 25 in a variety of highly regarded national preseason polls also boasting a Sporting News second team All-American in senior guard Krystal Ellis.
Head coach Terri Mitchell believes that the team has benefited tremendously from the Golden Eagles WNIT victory last April, fueling a desire for more. “The hunger that they went into the summer with has been unbelievable and how they’ve come back prepared,” Mitchell said of her team.
But Mitchell also made sure to stress the need for that hunger to stay consistent and be present throughout the entire season.
In a conference as competitive as the Big East, any signs of faltering could be devastating. The Big East is home to Connecticut, Rutgers and Louisville, all teams that rank within the top 10 of several preseason polls.
The Golden Eagles have high expectations for its backcourt to maintain the level of play it has grown so accustom to. The team’s guard play has been their “bread and butter” the past several seasons, especially during the 2007-2008 campaign.
Last season, the aforementioned Krystal Ellis led the team in scoring with 19.4 ppg (second in the Big East), was selected to the All-Big East Team for the second consecutive season, was named WNIT Tournament MVP and put herself within 272 points of the school’s all-time scoring record of 1,818 points set by Abbie Willenborg.
But it seems as though the scoring record is not the highest goal on her priority list. Rather she said she is “more focused on winning a national championship…I just want to win.”
In order for that happen, the Golden Eagles and Ellis will need continued contributions from players who performed well last season, especially throughout the WNIT Tournament.
Returning guards, sophomore Angel Robinson and senior Erin Monfre, will no doubt look to build off last season’s success and take advantage of the continuity a season together has afforded them.
Robinson, in her freshman season, showed much promise for the future by averaging 11.4 ppg and being named to the Big East All Freshman Team. Her play affords the team little drop-off at point guard when Ellis is off the court and compliments Ellis’ game when they are playing side by side.
Another player whose performance may dictate the success of the Golden Eagles is senior guard Erin Monfre. Although entering Marquette as a highly regarded shooter, Monfre has developed into a much more versatile player.
Coach Mitchell has described her as an “excellent zone defender” but more importantly, Monfre describes herself as an “emotional leader” for the team. What she brings each night may not be apparent in the box score, but it is quite clear that the team plays better with her on the floor.
In the biggest game to date in her collegiate career, Monfre led the Golden Eagles to an emotional victory over MSU in the WNIT Championship by burying 5 three pointers and scoring 15 points.
In only losing two players from last season (forward Svetlana Kovalenko to graduation and forward Kelly Lam, a senior this season who decided to forego her final year of eligibility), the Golden Eagles expect a significant amount of stability. But this does not mean that the team will not look to tweak a thing or two.
In the WNIT Tournament, the team found much success when they abandoned their traditional half-court defense for a high-pressured full-court attack. Mitchell iterated the team’s desire to start the season off in the same defensive fashion in which it left it.
Also, Marquette can expect more adjustments when it comes to playing time. Of the team’s four newcomers, all four expect to vie for a role in the rotation.
Returning junior guard Janelle Harris and England native and junior Lauren Thomas-Johnson, a junior college transfer, both figure to fit into the stacked guard rotation.
The departure of Kovalenko, last season’s lone senior and anchor in the frontcourt, leaves the team vulnerable and in the market for players to contribute down low.
“We don’t have the size of other teams in our conference,” Mitchell said when addressing the team’s most glaring weakness. But Mitchell made sure to stress the team’s WNIT success even with a lack of size last season, calling it a mental disadvantage more than anything.
The team may look to employ a forward by committee approach, getting senior Marissa Thrower, junior Breann Hill, another junior college transfer and sophomores Paige Fiedorowicz and Jocelyn Mellen involved in the forward rotation.
Freshmen Georgie Jones and Jessica Pachko are both 6-2 and may force their way into the mix with valued size and post play.
With uncertainty and inexperience plaguing Marquette’s frontcourt, the need for senior leadership becomes all that more important. Luckily for the Golden Eagles, they have stellar leaders in seniors Ellis, Monfre and Thrower.
When Ellis and Monfre were asked to describe their roles on the team for the upcoming season, each responded in sync, describing themselves as players who lead by example.
As last season clearly showed, talent is a definitive component of this team. But given the high level of play within the Big East, getting it to roll on all cylinders every single night becomes the most arduous and questionable task.
But one thing the Marquette women’s basketball does not need to question is its desire for this season. It begins and ends with a trip to the NCAA Tournament. After winning an exhibition game against Winona State Saturday and another exhibition game on November 10, the real season kicks off Saturday, Nov. 15 against Oral Roberts at the Al McGuire Center.
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