The Marquette women’s basketball team has its first exhibition game of the season Saturday when it faces University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Coming off a lengthy preseason, the women are anxious to see that work transfer into a game.

“We are definitely looking at seeing all of our hard work transfer into the game,” freshman guard Katie Young said. “We have been wanting to play for a while now, and we definitely deserve a win.”

That’s not to say the work is going to get any easier. This game, colloquially known as a “tune up” game, gives Marquette the chance to work on the things they have been doing in practice at full speed.

“I think one of the things we need to work on is playing together,” freshman guard Gabi Minix said. “We have a lot of new players here, and we need to get used to playing with each other in the games.”

Coming off a 17-16 season, the Golden Eagles have been picked to finish 10th in the Big East, a ranking they feel they can exceed.

“I think that we are much better than that,” Young said. “I think we will finish far better than that. There are a lot of new people coming in, so that might have had something to do with the way we were placed, people that there would be a lack of cohesion. But through the long preseason and all the practices we have really come together as a group.”

The team is expected to win easily over the Division II opponent, though this does not always prove true. Top Division I teams have been upset by underrated teams many times in the past (think Syracuse losing to Division II LeMoyne College last season), and the prospect of an upset certainly is plausible with the talented UW-Parkside team coming to town.

The Rangers finished 23-8 last year, earning themselves a five seed in last year’s NCAA Division II basketball tournament, and are returning three starters from last season. Both Minix and Young expect the team to be looking for a win.

“They will definitely show a lot of energy. They are going to come out hungry, and we are going to have to be prepared for that if we want to win,” Minix said.

“Yeah, they will definitely be hungry,” Young said. “But so are we. We’re expected to win, so naturally they will be hungry as the underdogs. But we have been working hard all preseason, and we are looking to get a win heading into the season.”