Cara Consuegra’s return to the Al McGuire Center for her first victory as the Marquette women’s basketball coach was filled with emotion and screaming children.
The Golden Eagles (1-2) dominated the Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars (0-4) from jump to horn in a 92-37 victory.
Yet it wasn’t the inaugural win that defined the moment for Consuegra.
“It was more special when I came out initially, just the feeling of walking out to a familiar place,” Consuegra said. “It was really hard for me to keep my composure, just to be back at a place that I always would have loved to come back to.”
“I’m in this moment,” Consuegra said. “I’m in these shoes that I always wished I had. That was kind of more emotional for me than the actual win.”
Those shoes and that role for Consuegra include the responsibility of being a role model, which the team showcased in front of Milwaukee Public Schools, as Marquette’s players were flooded by kids post-game, getting pictures, autographs and high-fives.
“Some of these kids, this was their first time on a college campus, this was their first time in this atmosphere,” Consuegra said. “It’s our responsibility to show them what they can be and what they can strive for, and that was important to our girls tonight. That’s why they wanted to go up and shake hands with as many of the kids as they could after the game.”
Skylar the scorer
Sophomore forward Skylar Forbes was a candidate to have a breakout year heading into her second season at Marquette, and she delivered Monday, tallying a new career-high 18 points on 9-for-12 shooting, as well as grabbing eight boards.
Forbes said she looks to her mindset to continue the consistent play.
“I keep the same mindset that coach really instills in us of just doing what our role is,” Forbes said. “For me, my role is to be a playmaker and to score and I have incredible teammates who can help me get that ball.”
Consuegra said Forbes fit the mold of the playmaking role in the win.
“The expectations for Skylar are so high, but she hasn’t played a ton of meaningful basketball here, and so that’s hard when you take a kid who’s just a sophomore and put all these expectations on her,” Consuegra said. “I think for some of it, we have to temper our expectations and allow her the grace and the time to get into that role, but I was really pleased with her in terms of her focus.”
Interior infallibility
Marquette scored 68 of its 92 points in the paint, and nearly tripled Illinois-Springfield on the glass. Forbes and sophomore forward Jada Bediako both grabbed eight rebounds, and including the two forwards, seven players had five or more boards.
“They’re a really good offensive rebounding team, so we really emphasized on boxing out, making sure we were staying strong and making sure that when they swatted us that we keep the ball in our hands,” Forbes said.
Marquette only lost on the defensive glass 1o times, and gathered 24 second-chance opportunities, scoring 32 points off the offensive glass.
Up Next
Marquette welcomes IU Indy to the Al McGuire Center on Sunday, November 24th. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. CST.
This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.
