Marquette women’s basketball (20-10, 12-5 Big East) starts postseason play on the road against No. 4 Drake (22-11, 15-5 Missouri Valley) in Des Moines this Thursday.
The Golden Eagles will make their first WBIT appearance while in head coach Cara Consuegra’s first season, and it will be the first time the two squads have met since 2004.
Marquette performing beyond expectations
Consuegra’s squad was picked to finish 10th in the Big East Preseason Poll, with six returning players in new roles and six transfers that entered the program last spring. However, Marquette ended up finishing fourth in the Big East standings with 12 conference wins, despite suffering a tough loss to Villanova in the Big East Tournament’s quarterfinals, 73-66, on Mar. 8.
Sophomores Skylar Forbes and Halle Vice have been key pieces for Marquette this season, each averaging in double-digits in scoring. Vice then leads the Golden Eagles in rebounding with just over seven a game, while Forbes was nominated to the All-Big East First Team as a sophomore.
Senior Lee Volker joined Forbes on the All-Big East list, but on the second team. She leads Marquette in 3-point percentage (41.7 percent) but sustained an injury in the aforementioned loss to Villanova in which she was carried off. It’s unclear if it will affect her in the WBIT but keep an eye out for some additional bench presence.
Des Moines native emerges as Drake’s top scorer
Katie Dinnebier will be the one to watch on Thursday.
The senior guard posted 45 points for the Bulldogs’ against Murray State in the Missouri Valley conference tournament. She averages over 23 points per game, and is Drake’s clear top option from deep, with a plus-105 differential in 3-point attempts compared to the next Bulldog in that category. She also leads the NCAA in assists per game at 7.3, whilst posting 30-plus points in six of her last seven games, en route to MVC Player of the Year honors.
Drake and Marquette have fared similarly against common opponents, Creighton and Indiana State, but against Illinois State, Marquette convincingly defeated the Redbirds at the Al McGuire Center this past December. Drake faced off against them three times in Missouri Valley play, routing the Redbirds by 21 in January, but in the rematches over the next two months, the Bulldogs won by five or six points respectively.
Another tidbit to note is that Marquette is 6-7 on the road, and Drake is 10-4 at home. The winner of this game will be matched up with the victor of No. 1 James Madison/Davidson in the next round of the WBIT.
How to follow the game
Watch: Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CST on Mar. 20, at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Live updates: @hilsontrevor and @MUWireSports.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at michael.severson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.
