In the Golden Eagles' previous two contests, the team out-rebounded its opponents Georgetown and St. John's 95-70, including 45 offensive rebounds.

But despite consistently getting two, three, or even four opportunities to score on each possession, Marquette was outscored 132-127 in that two-game stretch.

After amassing a 13-0 lead to start last Wednesdays game against a struggling Georgetown team, the Golden Eagles just barely pulled out a 60-55 win. Then on Saturday, the team followed up that performance with a 77-67 loss at the hands of St. John's.

The game was much closer than the final score indicated as the Red Storm made eight free throws in the last 44 seconds of the game. But the loss came to a St. John's team that, like Georgetown, also sits near the bottom of the conference standings. With that win the Red Storm improved to 11-10 overall and 3-5 in the Big East.

"We had some mental mistakes down the stretch that really cost us the game," assistant coach Michelle Nason said. "Things like fouling. We had some silly fouls, some offensive execution stuff, things like that."

It is true that the team is still young and inexperienced but several unexpected players have been able to step up. Junior Kelly Lam is still playing well in her starting role for the Golden Eagles and with freshman forward Paige Fiedorowicz injured again, redshirt freshman forward Jocelyn Mellen has been able to provide some depth inside. Against St. John's, Mellen posted 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and a block in 25 minutes off of the bench.

"We always need somebody to step up," Golden Eagles guard Krystal Ellis said. "I think she is starting to capture her role on the team."

Add the emergence of these players to the team's impressive rebounding margins over the past few games and the Golden Eagles are quickly running out of excuses for their inconsistent play.

Now Marquette faces a Cincinnati team that has lost its last seven games and with a 1-8 conference record, sits at the very bottom of the top-heavy Big East.

The Bearcats' leading scorer is redshirt sophomore Kahla Roudebush. After a quiet freshman year, Roudebush played only one game last season before undergoing shoulder surgery and taking a medical redshirt.

The 5-foot-8 guard has come out of nowhere to start all of the team's 21 games while averaging 15.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in just over 35 minutes per game.

"She has been the one thing that has been consistent about us all year," said Bearcats head coach J. Kelly Hall. "Night-in and night-out regardless of who we play she comes to play."

Following Cincinnati, four of Marquette's next five games are against ranked opponents. That being the case, tonight's game against the Bearcats is looking more and more like a must-win for the Golden Eagles.

"We are coming off of really two not very good performances," Nason said. "The Georgetown game we didn't play well. And then we turn around and go on the road and drop a game (to St. John's) that was one that we should have won.

"So now here we are on our home court and to just kind of erase the memory of our last two games it's really important that we come out and have a good showing."