Marquette University Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens Regular Season Against Iowa Friday
11/16/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 16, 1999
MILWAUKEE -
COMING UP Head coach Terri Mitchell's Marquette women's basketball team opens its 1999-2000 regular season at home in the Milwaukee Arena on Fri., Nov. 19, when it hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes at 7 p.m. (CT). The Golden Eagles then take their first road trip of the season on Mon., Nov. 22, as Marquette goes to Des Moines, Iowa, to meet Drake at 7 p.m. in the Bulldogs' Knapp Center.
MARQUETTE LOOKS TO PACK THE HOUSE The Marquette Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is celebrating the opening of the 1999-2000 season on Friday with several promotions. The first 1,000 fans to enter the Milwaukee Arena will receive a free Marquette Women's Basketball T-shirt. All fans in attendance will get the Golden Eagles' 1999-2000 magnet schedule. Marquette also will be offering 2-for-1 ticket pricing in an effort to help the Golden Eagles tip-off the new season in style.
In addition to those specials, the Marquette-Iowa game will also be carried live by Midwest Sports Channel at 7 p.m. Ken Syke will handle the play-by-play duties while former Golden Eagles' captain Kareeda Chones will handle the color analysis on the telecast.
IOWA AT A GLANCE Head coach Angie Lee's Hawkeyes also open their 1999-2000 regular season this Friday in the Milwaukee Arena. Iowa is coming off a 12-15 season in which it finished eighth in the Big Ten Conference. Four starters return from that squad, including All-Big Ten Freshmen Team selection Lindsey Meder, a 5-8 guard who averaged 13.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last year. Also returning are junior point guard Cara Consuegra, an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention pick last year, guard Leah Magner and center/forward Randi Peterson. The only player lost from last season is All-Big Ten First team selection Amy Herrig, who averaged 18.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Lee is entering her fifth season at her alma mater, where she has compiled a 75-42 (.641) mark. Her career record is the same.
Iowa played a one-game exhibition season, losing to the professional Parana Basketball Club of Brazil 91-66 on Nov. 6. Peterson led the Hawkeyes with 17 points and nine rebounds in the exhibition loss. Meder added 13 points, while 6-4 freshman center Amber O'Brien chipped in with 10 points and five boards.
This will be the first meeting between Iowa and Marquette.
DRAKE AT A GLANCE Coach Lisa Bluder's Bulldogs return all five starters from a team that went 21-10 and advanced to the semifinals of the Postseason NIT last year. Foremost among the returnees is 6-5 senior center Tammi Blackstone, an All-American candidate who averaged 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season. Also returning are 6-4 senior forward Haley Sames (10.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and the starting backcourt of Kristin Santa (11.9 ppg, 4.3 apg) and point guard Stephanie Schmitz (7.7 ppg, 4.4 apg). Bluder has a 164-99 (.624) record in nine seasons at Drake and has overall head coaching record of 333-135 (.712) in 15 seasons.
Drake went 2-0 and averaged 86.5 points per game during its preseason exhibition schedule. On Nov. 4, the Bulldogs stomped the touring Johnson Financial Services team 85-54. Drake then went to overtime to get by Athletes In Action 88-85 on Nov. 12. Forward Megan Wright paced the Bulldogs with 25.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
In the teams' only previous meeting last November 16 in the Milwaukee Arena, Drake shot 51% from the field, including 46% from behind the three-point arc, in downing Marquette 85-71. Santa had 22 points for Drake, while Abbie Willenborg registered her first double-double of the season with 23 points and 11 boards for MU.
THE EXHIBITION SEASON The Golden Eagles made their 1999-2000 debut with a 77-71 exhibition loss to the Soproni Postas Basketball Club of Hungary on Sat., Nov. 6. The Golden Eagles struggled from the field in the opening frame and were facing a 22-point deficit at the half. Spurred by the hot hand of forward Csilla Fodor, who finished with a game-high 23 points, Soproni Postas shot 59% from the field in the first half.
Kiesha Oliver sparked a Golden Eagle surge after the break, as Marquette cut the lead to five with just over nine minutes remaining. However, the Golden Eagles lost Willenborg to an injury and could not overcome 19 missed free throws in suffering only the second exhibition loss in Mitchell's four years. Willenborg led Marquette with 18 points and grabbed seven boards in only 22 minutes, while Oliver tossed in 15 points. Ebony Williams had nine points and two steals off the bench.
The Golden Eagles concluded the exhibition schedule on Nov. 10 with a 66-59 victory over Athletes In Action. Despite playing without the injured Willenborg and losing Lisa Oldenburg to a deep thigh bruise with just over 10 minutes left in the contest, Marquette out-rebounded AIA 44-39, with Heidi Bowman, Kristin Seffern and Sarah Zawodny each grabbing seven. Oldenburg paced the team with 21 points in only 23 minutes, while Bowman came off the bench for 13.
LAST YEAR Marquette returns all five starters from a team that went 21-8 a year ago. The Golden Eagles earned a tie for the Conference USA regular-season championship, won more than 20 games for the third straight season, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. At the NCAA Tournament, Marquette was awarded the #8 seed in the Midwest Region, its highest seed ever. However, the Golden Eagles fell to nationally-ranked Kansas 64-58 in the opening round at West Lafayette, Ind.
Marquette finished the season shooting 43% from the field, 32% from behind the arc and 70% from the free throw line. Marquette?s opponents converted 39% of their field goals, 36% of their attempts from three-point land and 68% of their free throws.
The Golden Eagles held a +8.8 point scoring advantage over their opponents, 71.0-62.2. Marquette out-rebounded its opponents by a 41.7-33.7 margin (+8.0 rpg), best in C-USA.
Head coach Terri Mitchell started the same five players in every game last season: G- Oliver and Kristi Johnson, F - Oldenburg and Bowman, C- Willenborg. The starters accounted for 85% of the points (60.5 ppg) and 71% of the rebounds (29.5 rpg).
Willenborg paced Marquette with 16.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. Joining Willenborg in double digits for points were Oldenburg (13.9 ppg), who led the squad with a 56% field goal percentage, Bowman (11.4), who led the team with a 36% three-point shooting percentage, and Oliver (10.0). Johnson led the team with 3.7 assists per game and an 80% free throw percentage.
IN THE POLLS Marquette was not ranked in any postseason polls following last season, but the Golden Eagles have garnered national attention in several of this year's preseason polls. The Golden Eagles are #10 by the Women's Basketball Journal, #20 by Women's Basketball, #25 by Street & Smith's and #29 by Basketball News. Marquette received 89 votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Top 25.
In this week's AP Top 25, Marquette received 73 votes but did not break into the Top 25.
FOR OPENERS In the 24-year history of the program, Marquette is 12-12 (.500) in regular-season openers. The Golden Eagles have compiled a 14-10 (.583) mark in home openers. They are 7-17 (.292) all-time in their first road contest of the season.
Under Mitchell, Marquette is 2-1 in regular-season and road openers, but 1-2 in home openers. The Golden Eagles defeated Loyola Chicago 74-40 in Chicago, Ill., in last year's regular-season debut before falling to Drake 85-71 at the Milwaukee Arena in its first game at home. Marquette has won its past two regular-season openers. This will be the first season in Mitchell's tenure at Marquette that the Golden Eagles will open the season at home.
HEAD COACH TERRI MITCHELL Entering her fourth season as head coach, Terri Mitchell is 64-25 (.719) at the helm of the Golden Eagles. Marquette's 21 wins last season made Mitchell the first head coach in the program's history to earn 10 wins or more in each of her first three seasons. She is also the first coach in the program's history to lead the team to a regular-season title, three-consecutive 20-win seasons and three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Mitchell was named the Conference USA Coach of the Year following the 1997-98 season after leading the Golden Eagles to a 22-7 mark and a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
In her debut season of 1996-97, Mitchell led Marquette to a 21-10 record, an 11.5 game turnaround from the Golden Eagles? 8-20 season the year before. The jump marked the largest improvement by a first-year head coach in NCAA Division I that year.
A 1989 graduate of Duquesne, where she was also a four-year letterwinner for the Duchesses? basketball team, Mitchell started her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arizona State during the 1989-90 season. After a one-year stint as the Director of Camps and Promotions for Future Stars International, Mitchell came to Marquette as an assistant coach in 1991. She served as an assistant at the university until she was named head coach on June 6, 1996.
Mitchell is assisted by Tracey Tarkington, Jon Cain, Michelle Nason and special assistant Kelly Johnson.
PRESEASON HONORS For the second straight season, Willenborg was named by the league's coaches to the Preseason All-C-USA Team. The center has been honored by the league following each of her first three seasons in a Golden Eagle uniform. Willenborg was an All-C-USA First Team selection at the conclusion of the past two seasons after earning C-USA All-Freshmen Team accolades following the 1996-97 season.
The 12 C-USA coaches picked Marquette to tie for the league championship with Tulane. The Golden Eagles and Green Wave were the top team in the American and National Division, respectively.
ER Willenborg left the exhibition opener on Nov. 6 night with a strained meniscus in her left knee. An MRI revealed no serious damage and she is probable for Friday's opener against Iowa.
Oldenburg will be back in the starting lineup after missing the end of the Athletes In Action game with a deep bruise to her right thigh.
Junior Jenelle Ristau is questionable for this week's games. She is having problems with both of her feet. She is coming off a stress fracture and surgery to her right foot that kept her on crutches for the entire 1998-99 season, which she sat out following her transfer from Dayton.
After missing the first exhibition contest with an irritated right knee, freshman Rachel Klug made her debut in a Golden Eagles uniform against Athletes In Action and is healthy for the Iowa game.
LEADING THE FLOCK Seniors Oldenburg, Oliver and Willenborg will serve as Marquette's captains this season.
WILLEN' AND ABLE Willenborg (Arlington Heights, Ill. / Hersey) had a team-high 18 points and to go along with seven rebounds and two steals in only 22 minutes before leaving the Soproni Postas game due to the knee injury. She missed the AIA game while resting the knee, but is probable for Friday night's opener.
She led C-USA in rebounding and with 15 double-doubles (points-rebounds) last season. Willenborg hit double-digits in points in 25 of MU's 29 games and led the team with 16.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. She also averaged 1.4 steals per game while shooting 51% from the field and 71% from the line.
Willenborg surpassed 1,000 career points against Illinois on Dec. 13, 1998, and is now in sole possession of fifth place on the all-time Marquette career scoring list with 1,351 points. Willenborg needs six points to move into fourth place. She also is in fifth place on the all-time Marquette career rebounding list with 899 boards.
SOLID GOLDENBURG Oldenburg (West Allis, Wis. / Hale) pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and tallied eight points, two blocks and two steals against Soproni Postas. She paced the team with 21 points against Athletes In Action before leaving with a deep bruise to her right thigh. She'll be back at her familiar power forward spot when the starting lineups are introduced Friday, however.
Oldenburg was named to the All-C-USA Second Team and the C-USA All-Tournament Team for the second straight season last year. The 6-2 senior averaged 13.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per contest while shooting a team-best 56% from the field. She led Marquette with 15 points on 7-13 shooting against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.
Oldenburg reached the 1,000 career points milestone on Jan. 17, 1999, and needs 19 points to move into the all-time Marquette career scoring Top 10. She currently has 1,184 career points and 626 career boards. Oldenburg also set new career highs in rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and field goal percentage last year.
She was named to the 1999 GTE Academic All-District V University Division Second Team.
K.O. PUNCH Oliver (Racine, Wis. / Park) had a solid all-around performance against Athletes In Action, registering nine points, three rebounds, five assists and a steal. The senior guard led the second-half charge against Soproni Postas, scoring all of her 15 points after the break.
She opened last season with a career-high 24 points against Loyola Chicago and continued to come up big for the Golden Eagles as they progressed through the schedule. She averaged 10.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists and shot 70% from the line. Oliver sparked MU in its upset wins of nationally-ranked Florida and Wisconsin with 23 and 15 points, respectively. The starting shooting guard, Oliver will also see minutes at the point again this season.
THROWING BOWS Bowman (Piercy, Calif. / South Fork) is still playing her way back into condition after missing the summer while rehabilitating a sore back. She came off the bench in both exhibition games. She tallied 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven boards against Athletes In Action after netting five points against the Hungarian club.
Bowman finished last season by scoring double-figures in the last seven games, a span in which she averaged 16.4 points and shot 45% from three-point land. The 6-0 junior averaged 11.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game and shot a team-leading 36% from behind the arc during a breakout season last year. She connected on 79% of her shots from the charity stripe. Bowman set new single-game and single-season highs in every statistical category and hit for a career-high 23 points on Feb. 21, 1999, against DePaul.
RUNNING THE SHOW Johnson (Holmen, Wis. / Holmen) returned to game action on Nov. 6 against Soproni Postas for the first time since being knocked out of the NCAA Tournament game last March 13 with a broken maxilla bone in the 12th minute. Totally recovered from the facial injury, Johnson dished out five assists in the exhibition opener and followed that with seven assists against AIA. She has struggled to regain her shooting touch, though, going 1-14 from the field in the preseason.
She was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team and averaged 8.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Johnson proved herself as one of the league's top clutch shooters, hitting 36% of her three-point tries and a team-high 80% of her free throw attempts. She tallied a career-high 20 points against Louisville on Sun., Jan. 3, 1999.
Johnson was the first freshman to start at the point for Marquette since Shari Smith filled in for the injured Renae Scheibe during the 1995-96 season.
EB' AND FLOW Williams (Davenport, Iowa / Bettendorf) is expected to see an increased role at a new position this season. After two years of action under the boards, the athletic junior will get extensive minutes on the perimeter this year. She led the Marquette bench with nine points and also had two steals against Soproni Postas. She was in the starting lineup versus AIA and tallied eight points three rebounds and three steals.
Williams finished strong last season, posting 1.4 blocks and 1.0 steals per game during Marquette's last five regular season games. She had three points and a rebound against Kansas.
Williams came off the bench for one of the top performances of her career against Southern Miss on Jan. 17, 1999. Filling in for a foul-plagued Willenborg, Williams grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds, blocked two shots and had four steals. She had a career-high nine points against Loyola-Chicago in the 1998-99 season-opener. The 6-0 junior forward averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11 minutes per game last year.
Z-52 BOMBER Sarah Zawodny (Beavercreek, Ohio / Chaminade-Julienne) ws in the starting lineup against Soproni Postas and tallied four points and five rebounds. She came off the bench in the Athletes In Action game and had eight points and seven boards.
The 6-4 sophomore center finished last season on a high note, averaging 7.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest over the last five regular-season games. On the season Zawodny averaged 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds per game while shooting 61% from the field.
She had a big game against Wisconsin on Dec. 3, 1998, tallying a career-high eight points and six rebounds in a career-high 24 minutes. She also turned in a good performance against Saint Louis on Feb. 12, 1999, matching her career-highs with eight points, two steals and a block and establishing new career-highs of eight boards and three assists.
NEW TO THE NEST After sitting out the mandatory season last year, Dayton transfer Ristau (Kimberly, Wis. / Kimberly) is eligible for action this season, but is still being hobbled by recurring foot problems. She had four points and two boards in her Golden Eagle debut against Soproni Postas, but was limited to only five minutes of action in the preseason final?. The 6-1 sharpshooter came off the bench for two seasons for the Flyers and averaged 9.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.
Four freshman dot the Marquette roster this season. Redshirt Seffern (Van Dyne, Wis. / North Fond du Lac) is healthy this year after missing all but 11 minutes last season with a stress fracture in her left foot. She started against Athletes In Action and collected a team-high seven rebounds to go along with three points. Seffern had six points and four rebounds against Soproni Postas. A 6-2 player who is comfortable at either forward slot, Seffern holds the North Fond du Lac career records for points and rebounds.
Also bolstering the frontline are freshmen Klug (Cedar Grove, Wis. / Cedar Grove) and Kim Nelson (Mosinee, Wis. / Mosinee). The 6-2 Klug was an All-Wisconsin First Team and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel All-Area Team selection as a senior and concluded her career with 1,732 points and 1,212 rebounds. Nelson, a 6-0 walk-on forward, concluded her prep career as Mosinee's all-time leading scorer and was an All-Wisconsin Fourth Team pick last year. Neither player saw action against Soproni Postas, but Klug debuted against Athletes In Action, tallying two points and three boards.
Rashida Gales (Burnsville, Minn. / Burnsville) should see extensive action at both backcourt spots throughout the season. The 5-8 freshman has a knack for doing the things that may not show up in the box score to help her team win. She had two points in the exhibition opener before grabbing three boards and collecting a steal and an assist against Athletes In Action.
GOLDEN EAGLES ON THE AIR Select Marquette women's basketball games will be broadcast live on the Marquette Basketball Radio Network by WJYI-1340 AM and WISN-1130 AM this season.
Kent Sommerfeld and Kareeda Chones will call all the action for at least 16 games this season, with at least two others being simulcast. WJYI will carry at least 14 games, with WISN airing at least four. Additional games from the postseason may be added.
The Golden Eagle Pregame Show will start approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled tip-off on most dates.
The following games will be carried by WJYI:Nov. 19 Iowa 10 p.m. (tape-delayed)Nov. 22 at Drake 7 p.m. (simulcast - tentative)Dec. 1 at UW-Milwaukee 7 p.m.Dec. 6 BYU 7 p.m.Dec. 8 Wisconsin 7 p.m.Dec. 11 at Syracuse 1 p.m. (simulcast - tentative)Dec. 18 Arkansas State 7 p.m.Dec. 30 DePaul 7 p.m.Jan. 7 Louisville 10 p.m. (tape-delayed)Jan. 20 UAB 7 p.m.Jan. 28 South Florida 7 p.m.Feb. 3 at Southern Miss 7 p.m.Feb. 13 at Louisville 1 p.m.Feb. 18 UNC Charlotte 7 p.m.March 3-6C-USA Tournament TBA The following games will be carried by WISN:Dec. 4 Dayton 1 p.m.Jan. 9 Cincinnati 2 p.m.Jan. 30 Houston 2 p.m.Feb. 20 Saint Louis 2 p.m.(The broadcast schedule is tentative and subject to change.)
The Golden Eagles will be featured on two nationally-televised games this season. Marquette's Sat., Feb. 5, game at Tulane will be aired by espn2 at 3 p.m. FOX Sports Net will carry the Golden Eagles' final game of the regular season, at DePaul on Sat., Feb. 26, at 11 a.m. Midwest Sports Channel will air the season-opener against Iowa on Fri., Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., and also will show the South Florida contest at the Milwaukee Arena on Fri., Jan. 28, at 7 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact Marquette assistant sports information director Josh Sutter at (414) 288-6980 or at: joshua.sutter@marquette.edu.
