Head coach Terri Mitchell's "extremely rusty" team was still able to beat its competition by 24 points in its exhibition opener at the Al McGuire Center, defeating Cardinal Stritch 73-49.

Junior forward Jasmine McCullough led the women's basketball team with 14 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes of play Saturday night.

At the beginning of the first half, nerves got the better of Marquette and both teams played at the same low-key level. But after the Wolves, which compete in the NAIA, tied the game at 8-8, enough was enough.

The Golden Eagles went on an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes, started by a three-point play by sophomore forward Svetlana Kovalenko. Kovalenko finished with 10 points for the night.

"It was our first game and we didn't know what to expect from the other team, the crowd and ourselves," McCullough said.

Thanks in part to a new fast-paced offensive attack, the Golden Eagles led by as much as 16 points before the half.

"At practices we've been working on moving up and down and up and down for the past three weeks," Mitchell said. "To play faster you need to be well conditioned. We played faster tonight and had just 12 turnovers. I think that says a lot about our team."

With five minutes left in the first half, the Golden Eagles allowed Cardinal Stritch back into the game and let their lead slip to just nine points at the half.

"Stritch picked up their game and we just let ours drop," McCullough said.

Marquette controlled the game for the second half, starting with an 11-2 run and sparked by six points from junior forward Christina Quaye. Quaye finished the game with 14 points.

While the team still has a lot of work to do before the start of the regular season, the exhibition game came just in the knick of time.

"We've been beating up on each other in practice," Mitchell said.

"We needed an exhibition game. Cardinal Stritch is an outstanding, well-coached team and tonight was fun for everyone."

Even though shots were missed and players at times were out of position, the positives from the game are encouraging. The Golden Eagles dominated the boards, out-rebounding Cardinal Stritch 59-27.

"We played with a lot of effort tonight," Mitchell said. "We played hard and the effort was there."

Freshmen Krystal Ellis, Erin Monfre and Marissa Thrower each played in their first collegiate basketball game.

If the players were unsure about the line-up for the game, they weren't alone. Mitchell was "throwing" people in all game. Saturday night, if you had on a Marquette uniform, you were playing.

"I wanted to give the freshmen an opportunity," Mitchell said. "I didn't have much of a rhythm tonight. There was no set combination."