Women's Basketball Celebrates The Season With A Week Off

Dec. 19, 1999

MILWAUKEE -

COMING UP The Marquette women's basketball team (8-2) starts an extended break this week, as they take some time off for the holidays. The Golden Eagles get an 11-day layoff before jumping into their Conference USA schedule on Thu., Dec. 30, when they host DePaul in the Milwaukee Arena.

ABOUT MARQUETTE Marquette, chosen by many preseason prognosticators to finish in the Top 25 this season, won its 13th-straight home game last Saturday. The Golden Eagles complete a two-game homestand on Dec. 30 against DePaul.

Marquette is currently shooting 42% from the field, 28% from behind the arc and 66% from the free throw line. Marquette?s opponents have converted 41% of their field goals, 31% of their attempts from three-point land and 69% of their free throws.

The Golden Eagles are out-scoring opponents by 3.0 points per game, 69.1-66.1, and are outrebounding their opponents by 1.0 rebound per game, 39.5-38.5.

For the first time since the final game of the 1997-98 season (38 games) head coach Terri Mitchell sent out a different starting lineup for the opening tip against Arkansas State: G- Kiesha Oliver and Kristi Johnson, F - Lisa Oldenburg and Ebony Williams, C- Abbie Willenborg. Those starters account for 78% of the points (53.7 ppg) and 63% of the rebounds (24.8 rpg) this season.

Willenborg leads Marquette with 17.9 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, while she and Oldenburg both average 1.4 blocks per game. Oldenburg paces Marquette with 3.3 steals per game and shoots 58% from the field and 73% from the line. Johnson shoots 40% from behind the three-point arc and dishes out 4.0 assists per contest.

LAST WEEK

Marquette 65, Arkansas State 62

Kiesha Oliver?s three-point bank-shot gave the Marquette women?s basketball team the lead for good as the Golden Eagles? downed previously-unbeaten Arkansas State 65-62 this evening in the Milwaukee Arena. Marquette clawed back from an 11-point deficit in the first half to hand the Lady Indians their first loss of the season. The Golden Eagles improve to 8-2 with the win, while Arkansas State is now 7-1.

The athletic Lady Indians opened first half with a tight man-to-man defense and opened the 11-point margin by relying on the moves of Tanisha Johnson. The 6-3 senior used an array of post moves and a soft shot to get 13 of her team-high 19 points in the opening half. While Johnson?s inside game was on, Marquette?s potent combo of Willenborg and Lisa Oldenburg struggled from the field, going 4-11 in the first 20 minutes. Sarah Zawodny came to the Golden Eagles? rescue, though. The 6-4 sophomore tallied career-highs with 13 points and nine rebounds on the evening, with eight coming in the final minutes of the first half, when Marquette climbed back into the game.

?We weren?t getting Sarah the ball enough at Syracuse (last week) and I stressed that to the team,? Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. ?But she also was active tonight, and Sarah can be very effective when she?s active. She was ready and she stepped up tonight.?

After Zawodny?s first-half flourish, the Golden Eagles turned to some familiar faces after the break, as Willenborg pounded her way to 19 points and eight rebounds and a stiff defense led by Oliver and Kristi Johnson buckled down. Ebony Williams, getting the first start since her freshman season, also helped the perimeter defense, as the Lady Indian guards went 9-27 from the field. It was Oliver?s three-pointer as the shot clock wound down that pushed Marquette into the lead for good, though. The senior guard banked in the three from the left wing with one shot left on the shot clock, and Willenborg dropped in a layup for the final margin.

?I certainly called ?bank? as Kiesha put that shot up,? Mitchell said jokingly. ?It wasn?t pretty, but it went in. She was willing to step up and take the shot - that?s what seniors do.

IN THE POLLS Marquette was not ranked in either the USA Today / Coaches' Poll or the AP Poll last week, but was among the top teams receiving votes in both polls.

Several Marquette opponents did receive national recognition last week: Notre Dame was #7 by the coaches and #11 by the AP, while C-USA foe Tulane made its 1999-2000 debut in both polls last week. The Green Wave were tied for #25 in the coaches' poll and were #24 by the AP. Wisconsin, Arkansas State, Drake and BYU were each receiving votes from the AP, while Arkansas State, Wisconsin, Drake and Louisville were getting votes in the coaches' poll.

HEAD COACH TERRI MITCHELL Now in her fourth season as head coach, Terri Mitchell is 72-27 (.727) 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.

WILLEN' AND ABLE Willenborg (Arlington Heights, Ill. / Hersey) led Marquette in scoring for the fifth time this season against Arkansas State. The 6-2 senior center tallied 19 points, and also grabbed eight rebounds and had two steals. Conference USA's all-time leading rebounder, Willenborg is currently averaging 17.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.

K.O. PUNCH Besides hitting the key three-pointer in the waning minutes of the contest, Oliver also had four rebounds, three assists and a career-high three blocks. She ended the game with seven points.

The 5-9 senior shooting guard is averaging 8.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game from her shooting guard spot. Oliver has also logged ample minutes at the point this season.

Z-52 BOMBER Zawodny (Beavercreek, Ohio / Chaminade-Julienne) had a career night against Arkansas State, establishing career marks with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds. She became the first player besides Oldenburg or Willenborg to lead Marquette in rebounding in a single game all season against the Lady Indians, and her 13 points is a high mark for a reserve player this season. The 6-4 sophomore center went 5-7 from the field and also had a steal. Zawodny is now averaging 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 54% from the field.

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 5-10 minutes before the scheduled tip-off on most dates.

The following games will be carried by WJYI: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 3-6   C-USA Tournament    TBA    The following games will be carried by WISN: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. Midwest Sports Channel will pick up FOX Sports Net's broadcast of the Golden Eagles' final game of the regular season, at DePaul on Sat., Feb. 26, at 11 a.m. Midwest Sports Channel also will air the South Florida contest at the Milwaukee Arena on Fri., Jan. 28, at 7 p.m.

QUOTING TERRI MITCHELL:

"We've played a lot of games in a short time span recently, and we'll use this break to get ready for the conference schedule. The brand of non-conference opponent we've played this season has prepared us for the league games and the contest with Notre Dame.

"Both DePaul and Notre Dame are big games for us, and we'll gladly take the extra time to prepare for them. It will be good for everybody to take some time off for the holidays, but when we come back, we'll work just as hard as we have to getready for the rest of the season."

FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact Marquette assistant sports information director Josh Sutter at (414) 288-6980 or at: joshua.sutter@marquette.edu