The Marquette women's basketball team has followed that script all season. As a result, it finished tied for second in the conference standings with Rutgers and produced a single-season school record 24 wins.,”

Life is good when you don't have to overextend any of your key players and still can have satisfying results.

The Marquette women's basketball team has followed that script all season. As a result, it finished tied for second in the conference standings with Rutgers and produced a single-season school record 24 wins.

Marquette's rotation, which features upward of 10 to 11 players per game, will play the winner of the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament Sunday at 7 p.m. It is scheduled to air on ESPNU and will be played in Hartford, Conn.

The good news heading into the conference tournament is that along with the extra rest period, the Golden Eagles aren't in top-seeded Connecticut's half of the bracket.

"It is extremely important to us to have this rest," head coach Terri Mitchell said in a statement. "We look forward to the time off and to be able to scout our next opponent one more time."

Third-seeded Marquette was one of four teams to receive a bye in the first round after finishing the regular season 24-5 overall and 12-4 in the conference.

The Golden Eagles enter the conference tournament on the heels of a 69-60 victory over St. John's on Monday. And it appears as though everyone has settled into her role. All 10 players who saw action Monday night registered at least one field goal and one rebound. The Golden Eagles also held a 19-2 advantage in bench points.

The Red Storm, meanwhile, earned the 12th and final spot in the tournament thanks to wins by Villanova, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh that same night.

"This is just the beginning of something," said senior Efueko Osagie-Landry after Marquette's win Saturday over South Florida. "Now we have two tournaments coming up, and there's that much more urgency to relax because the end is not here yet."

The most telling statistic for the Golden Eagles all season has been on the backboards. Marquette is 21-2 when out-rebounding its opponent. Leading that category is senior Christina Quaye, who averages 6.1 per game.

What Marquette will want to avoid is a slow start. By doing that, they'll have to stick to their run-and-gun style of play led by sophomore floor general Krystal Ellis, who is averaging a team-high 18.2 points per game.

The conference tournament will be a good barometer for the NCAA tournament.

"It is all we talk about," Mitchell said in a statement. "We know that many teams in the conference will go, but a higher seed just betters our chance to advance in the tournament. We ask our players to come with passion and to contribute."

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