It’s been a season of streaks and inconsistency for the Marquette women’s basketball team, a trend highlighted by junior forward Sarina Simmons’.

Simmons has struggled scoring regularly since starting the season on a hot streak, averaging 17.3 points per game in the first four games of the season.

The Milwaukee native came into the season as the team’s number one returning scorer and rebounder, averaging 7.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game during the 2010-’11 season. While Simmons has improved upon those statistics this season — 9.7 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game — and is currently third on the team in scoring behind sophomore forward Katherine Plouffe and freshman guard Arlesia Morse, Simmons has had a difficult time developing into a consistent go-to player.

“I think that Sarina (Simmons) has played really well, but her Achilles’ heel has been consistency,” sophomore guard Katie Young said. “She will have a great game and then a subpar game, but I think that comes with growth and her stepping up to be a leader this year, which is something different for her.”

As the team’s only upperclassman, Simmons has taken on a de facto leadership role despite her quiet personality. Young said Simmons’ actions in practice speak louder than her words.

“Sarina’s not a very vocal person and leads more by example in practices when things are going wrong,” Young said. “She’s the first to win a sprint or something like that, and it gets the team going.”

Simmons appeared to be on the road to a monster year after leading the Golden Eagles to a 54-52 win over Wisconsin with a career-high 23 points and then scoring 22 points four nights later in a 74-63 loss to Georgia Tech. Since that opening stretch, however, Simmons has reached double-digits only three times.

Most recently, in Saturday’s 72-48 win over Pittsburgh, Simmons keyed an early 10-3 run for the Golden Eagles with four points, two assists, a rebound and a block but finished the game with only eight points.

Simmons said her numbers are more the result of the team’s overall offensive game plan and strength as a collective unit than her struggles at a personal level.

“I think our biggest emphasis is shot selection and not forcing up a lot of shots when I’m cold or trying to do too much when I am scoring,” Simmons said. “We’re not putting the scoring on one person on our team or even a few players on our team. I feel like collectively we play to our strengths and different mismatches so that any given night anybody can be a great scorer.”

Young said the team follows an unselfish style of play in which players like Plouffe, Morse and Simmons are primary targets while allowing for other players to step in, a common theme in each of the team’s 13 wins this season.

“The emphasis for our team is basically unselfishness, and I think with Sarina being one of our primary scorers, when other players like Arlesia, Gabi and I score a lot it’s not really an issue,” Young said. “We of course focus on feeding our primary scorers, but if other people step up it’s not usually a problem.”

While Plouffe has taken over as Marquette’s initial scoring force in the paint, the efforts of players around her has impacted whether or not the Golden Eagles win or lose in conference play.

Marquette is 1-4 in its past five games and 4-6 overall in the conference this season with powerhouses like Connecticut and Rutgers still on the schedule. Whether or not a different star will rise up every night for the Golden Eagles remains to be seen and will have to be the case if Marquette is planning on making the NCAA Tournament or even the NIT this season.