The ball is tipped, and there the Marquette women’s basketball Golden Eagles are.

The Golden Eagles, who were on the bubble for the majority of the back half of conference play, were announced as the No. 10 seed in the Albany region of this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Marquette will face No. 7 seed Ole Miss (23-8, 12-4 SEC) Saturday at 3:45 p.m. CST in South Bend, Indiana.

Marquette had its best start in program history in head coach Megan Duffy’s fifth season, including an unblemished 11-0 non-conference record and a win at home over the then-No. 20 Creighton Bluejays for a 12-0 start to its 2024 campaign. They finished the season 23-8 and 11-7 in conference play.

The Golden Eagles are led by senior forward and first-team All-Big East selection Liza Karlen, senior guard and second-team All-Big East honor Jordan King and sophomore guard and All-Big East Honorable Mention Mackenzie Hare.

This will be Marquette’s third appearance in The Big Dance under Duffy. The Golden Eagles went to Columbia, South Carolina, as a No. 9 seed last season and had their music muted early after falling to No. 8 seed South Florida in a heartbreaking first-round overtime loss.

This will be Karlen and King’s third NCAA Tournament appearance with Marquette.

This is Marquette’s 14th NCAA Tournament appearance, in which the Golden Eagles are 6-14 all time and have never made it past the second round and into the second weekend.

This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.