Having to play four games in four days would be a trying task to say the least, but when postseason tournament hopes hinge on the ability to win those four games, it makes a tense situation, well, tenser.
That's the situation the women's basketball team is in right now as they enter the Conference USA women's basketball tournament Thursday when they take on Alabama-Birmingham at 8:30 p.m. in Charlotte, N.C., in the last first-round game of the evening.
Marquette enters the C-USA tournament as the seventh seed while the Blazers enter as the tenth seed. The teams met Jan. 30 at the Al McGuire Center with the Golden Eagles winning, 65-48.
In that game, sophomore center Christina Quaye led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 21 points. She also scored the first 10 points for her team en route to the 17-point victory.
Playing an opponent for a second time during the season might induce some teams to offer different looks in the game, but the team's approach for this game will be to stick with what worked for them the first time.
"Our approach has been to try something again if we have had success with it in earlier games," said senior forward Lesley Juedes. "Our coaches do a good job of scouting so we will have to see if they put anything new into this gameplan."
If Marquette defeats UAB Thursday, it will meet Louisville in the second round of the tournament Friday. The Golden Eagles lost to the Cardinals Feb. 7 in Louisville, 70-56.
The Cardinals are the second seed in the tournament, and while it would be easy for the Golden Eagles to look past UAB to Louisville, Juedes said the team is taking a game-by-game approach this week.
"We have to approach these games taking it one game at a time, one day at a time," she said. "Right now we are focused on playing UAB. Whatever happens after that happens. We just have to take everything in stride…"
Something that might be of help to the Golden Eagles is that Charlotte is the only team with a home court advantage while everyone else is playing on a neutral court. Marquette was 2-5 on the road in C-USA this season, so a neutral court might be just what they need to put together some wins.
"I think playing on a neutral court does make for a level playing field," Juedes said. "But come tournament time everybody comes to win and in order to win you have to play your best game."
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 1 2005.