The Marquette women’s basketball team officially opens its season this weekend when it faces Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday night at the Al McGuire Center.
After a long preseason, Marquette is excited for the start of the season. Coming off a 33-point win in an exhibition against Division II Wisconsin-Parkside, the Golden Eagles look poised to start off strong this season.
“I think we learned a lot about our team from the exhibition games this season,” senior guard Angel Robinson said. “We know that we are a very good team right now. We are a very young team, too.
“We also know that we have a lot to work on. We have to improve our rebounding and our defense mostly. But the important thing is that we are still getting better.”
Senior forward Paige Fiedorowicz also thought the team has been improving over the course of the preseason.
“We have been improving, but we definitely need to work on our defense and our shooting,” Fiedorowicz said.
Senior guard Courtney Weibel stressed that the only way to make those improvements is to put in the work.
“I’m a shooter, so from my point of view the only way to get better is to put in the hours at the gym,” Weibel said. “I try to make 100 threes every day so that I know I will be able to make those shots in the game.”
After combining for 47 points and 19 rebounds against UW-Parkside, the Golden Eagles frontcourt will once again look to have a big game.
“I think what worked for us was ball movement,” Fiedorowicz said. “Everything seemed to be working. I think if we take what we have been working on in practice and combine it with how we played during the game, then we should play well as a unit all year.”
Fiederowicz, who had a very good idividual game, scoring 10 points and pulling in five rebounds over 23 minutes, is looking to have another great game this weekend.
“I think what worked for me is the fact that I am both strong and quick. So that should help me in the games this weekend,” Fiedorowicz said.
Another contributing factor to the Marquette victory Saturday was the play of the team’s bench players.
“I think everyone played well,” Fiedorowicz said. “We have the kind of team that is going to make the most of every opportunity they get.”
Weibel agreed, saying, “We have a very deep team. We have a lot of freshmen who are willing to play right now and are going to make an impact.”
The depth of this team was one of the things called into question in the preseason and partially led to them being picked to finish 10th in the Big East. However, all the senior players seem to be very confident in their young teammates.
“Its great having this kind of youth on the team,” Robinson said. “Each player brings her own set of skills to the table, and it really makes the team better. They also push us to be better in practice, which translates to us playing better in the games.”
As for the low expectations from the experts, Robinson said, “Right now we are just filling in our team. We know we’re better than that. So that really just gives us motivation to go out and prove it.”
