,”The Marquette women's basketball team has not been shy about shooting the three-point shot this season. But therein also lies the problem. The Golden Eagles are shooting 29.5 percent from behind the arc, the second worst mark in the Big East.

The past two games, though, have represented a change of fortune. In Wednesday night's game at Notre Dame, the Golden Eagles shot 9-for-13 from behind the arc. Marquette lost the game, but sub-par defense, rather than poor shooting, was to blame.

On Saturday, in an 88-71 rout of Seton Hall at the Al McGuire Center, Marquette sunk a season-high 11 three-pointers on 20 attempts.

Coincidentally, those threes came during Marquette's fundraiser, the "3-point Attack Against Breast Cancer," where sponsors agreed to donate money for every three-pointer made.

The fundraiser was part of Marquette's third annual "Pink Out" to raise breast cancer awareness.

One player who greatly contributed to the event was freshman guard Courtney Weibel. After playing 20 minutes and going 4-for-4 from three-point range against Notre Dame, Weibel saw another boost in her playing time at home against the Pirates.

She finished with 15 points, shooting 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Prior to beating Seton Hall, Weibel was averaging 2.0 points in only 5.9 minutes per contest. She was shooting 28.3 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from three-point range.

"I think just being able to get in the flow of the game really helps," Weibel said. "When I wasn't strong enough and I wasn't playing defense, I'd come in just when we needed a three. It kind of didn't allow me to get in the flow. But now that I can just relax a little more, it's a little easier to shoot."

After Weibel performed well at Notre Dame, Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell made it clear she would like to see Weibel receive more minutes in the future; but with Weibel's struggles up to that point, increased playing time seemed unlikely.

"What you guys need to know is that everyday in practice she never complained. She came hard everyday to practice," Mitchell said. "And what you saw in shooting is what we see everyday in practice."

Mitchell said earlier this season, Weibel was not where the team needed her to be defensively. With 37 minutes in two games, it appears Weibel now has reached that point.

"As far as Courtney's role, it'll continue," Mitchell said. "If she's defending, then she'll stay out there. It's whatever Courtney makes of it and whatever the team makes of it. If it's her day, she's going to remain. If it's not her day, she doesn't remain."

For Mitchell, who frequently plays all 12 players at her disposal, having someone who can come in and give an instant spark off of the bench is a valuable asset.

"I'm glad she finally gets it," junior guard Krystal Ellis said. "It's nice to be able to just set someone else up and know that at anytime they can stroke it from anywhere. It's really good to know that we have someone that can come out and basically shoot people out of their zone."

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