Led by a silky-smooth sophomore guard who averages 19 points and nearly four assists per game, the team is playing as well as it has all season.,”
With students back from break, the basketball hype surrounding Marquette can resume. As things stand, The Associated Press ranks the team at No. 19. This weekend's Big East road game gives the Golden Eagles another opportunity to climb in the polls.
Led by a silky-smooth sophomore guard who averages 19 points and nearly four assists per game, the team is playing as well as it has all season. The squad sports a balanced offensive attack with three players averaging double figures. Though the star guard gets a lot of press, the second-leading scorer from Chicago puts up 15 points per contest.
Yeah, I would say our women are pretty good. Who did you think I was talking about?
The Marquette women's basketball team holds a 16-2 record, and at 4-1 in the Big East trails only perennial national powerhouse Connecticut and a 2006 Sweet 16 Rutgers team in the conference standings.
Of course the sophomore guard of which I write is none other than Krystal Ellis. In the last five games, she has averaged 26 points. Talk about lights out.
When the team dropped a 91-87 overtime heartbreaker at Pittsburgh Jan. 9, its school-record 14-game win streak halted, but it was not for lack of effort. Despite going to the locker room in the second half with an ankle injury, Ellis assisted a layup with less than a second to play in regulation to tie it at 72.
Like another basketball team on campus, the women have more than one go-to player. Senior forward Christina Quaye puts up 15.7 points per game and was at her best in the loss to Pitt, when she logged 40 minutes going 10-for-20 from the field, including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Another senior forward rounds out the trio. Danielle Kamm does more than contribute, scoring 10.2 points and grabbing 5.8 rebounds per game.
The one area in which the women do not even compare to the men: free throws. When it comes to the charity strip, the women make the men look foolish. The women can flat-out shoot the rock, while the men simply sink like one.
The Marquette women knock down 74.8 percent of their free throws. The guys, well, a meager 63.3. Hell, the best free throw shooter on the men's squad nails only 70 percent. Three players on the men's team do not even make half of their attempts.
In this statistic lies the difference between the teams and why one will finish the regular season with 25 wins. With their free throw shooting, the women can play with UConn and run the doormats off the court.
On the other hand, this fault keeps every game interesting for the men. If I found my crew losing to the Marquette men, I would start fouling with five minutes to go. As far as getting back in the game, I would rather have Dominic James take his time with an unguarded 15-footer than to triple-team him in the lane.
If the women are willing to accommodate, men's coach Tom Crean should send his team to the other gym in the Al McGuire Center for some pointers, so that both teams can make a run in the NCAAs.
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