Before Angel Robinson’s senior year began, former Marquette men’s basketball star Lazar Hayward told her that, as the team’s point guard, she needed to be a leader on and off the court so her teammates could trust her.

Twenty-three games into the season, it’s apparent Robinson took Hayward’s advice to heart.

Robinson has led the Golden Eagles to a 19-4 record and has once again taken on the pressure-filled role of team leader with open arms.

Playing on her high school’s varsity basketball team as an eighth grader and being named Miss Basketball in Minnesota her senior year, pressure is something Robinson has thrived on.

“I didn’t let it get to my head because this is a whole new level,” Robinson said of the college game. “I knew that I had to step my game up because it was way different from high school, so it has always just stuck with me.”

After three stellar individual seasons, Robinson and the Golden Eagles shifted their focus toward team goals in 2010, specifically toward making the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s our senior year, and she realizes this is her last year at Marquette,” fellow senior guard Tatiyiana McMorris said. “It’s how you finish, and that’s what our team goes by. She has always wanted it.”

That urgency from Robinson to get her squad back to the NCAAs has been apparent through her play this season. Even with a second team All-Big East selection her junior year, Robinson has increased her numbers in points, rebounds, assists and steals and has taken the reins of a Marquette team destined for a tournament bid.

Ironically, McMorris said Robinson trying to do less on the court has helped her accomplish more.

“She’s not letting the game take a toll on her, and she used to do that,” McMorris said. “She used to carry the weight, and she’s made her biggest progress just relaxing and not taking the whole game upon her shoulders.”

By her focusing on more than scoring and trying to do too much, the Golden Eagles are

ranked the highest they have been since 2007, at No. 21/22.

“Angel is having the most complete season she has ever played for us because last year I think she felt the burden of, ‘I have to get it done,’ especially in the close games we were in,” coach Terri Mitchell said. “She’s the complete game, and I think that’s what makes her special this year.”

Robinson was acknowledged for her excellence by having her name added to the State Farm Wade Watch list this year, which at the end of the year will be presented to the most outstanding Division I women’s basketball player who excels athletically and serves as a role model on and off the court.

McMorris sees a lot of that description in Robinson as a player and person.

“We know that she’s going to be there for us running the team. She’s a great person to be around,” McMorris said. “She leads by example and we follow it. That’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had.”

For Robinson, the end result is all about the team’s success.

“We have never been this successful since I’ve been here, so it’s great to see everyone loving the game of basketball,” Robinson said. “We’re playing together as a family and as a team.”

Whether it’s on or off the court, that’s something that starts with the point guard.