The post-oriented team of last year is gone, along with four of its most important contributors. The graduations of Christina Quaye, Danielle Kamm, Jasmine McCullough and Efueko Osagie-Landry have dictated a change in the women's basketball team's style of play.,”Buckle up. That is the general advice concerning this year's Marquette women's basketball team.

The post-oriented team of last year is gone, along with four of its most important contributors. The graduations of Christina Quaye, Danielle Kamm, Jasmine McCullough and Efueko Osagie-Landry have dictated a change in the women's basketball team's style of play.

"We're hoping to speed it up," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We did fast break last year, but we could really rely on having the ball in to Christina, to Jasmine, their combination after all the years they played together, they knew each other and they knew how to react."

Junior Krystal Ellis remains the key to the Golden Eagles' offense and will undoubtedly be a factor in the team's ability to quicken the game's pace. As a sophomore last season, Ellis averaged a team-high 18.0 points per game and 3.48 assists per game.

Besides Ellis, the Golden Eagles have no returning player who averaged more then five points a game last season, so the six freshmen on this year's squad must contribute in order for this team to be successful. Finding a cure for the freshmen's inexperience will be a key factor in how well they do this season.

"They have so much fight in them because they don't know what's going to happen, so right now we're just kind of helping them along," junior Marissa Thrower said. "They're moving fast, they understand things, they're a very spirited group."

Angel Robinson enters the program as the team's most highly touted freshman. She was the 2007 Minnesota Miss Basketball while averaging 16.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.9 steals a game. Much will be expected of Robinson as she will be taking over the point guard duties for the Golden Eagles, moving Ellis to shooting guard.

Robinson, along with Ellis and freshman Tatiyiana McMorris, brings much of the speed Mitchell is excited to utilize.

Besides Ellis and Robinson, the only other starting position that is locked up belongs to senior Svetlana Kovalenko.

"Svetlana is just doing great; she's playing like a star," Mitchell said. "She came off her sophomore year probably the best I've ever seen her … and I think she just has that senior focus to step on the court and push."

After two exhibition games Marquette's official season will start with a home game against Loyola-Chicago on Nov. 12. Other notable games on the Golden Eagles' non-conference schedule are away games at Oregon and Kansas, as well as home match-ups with Northwestern and Wisconsin.

"Going to Kansas, going to Oregon, playing Wisconsin and Northwestern, those teams are really going to help us," Mitchell said.

The Big East is represented in the Associated Press top 25 by seven teams, including Connecticut and Rutgers, which are ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

The Golden Eagles were picked to finish eighth in the preseason Big East coaches' poll, and if that prediction comes true, Marquette will have to lean on a strong non-conference schedule to have a chance at an NCAA tournament bid.

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