Women's Basketball Season in Review
4/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
April 2, 2001
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A mid-season matchup with eventual national champion Notre Dame proved to be a michrochasm of the Marquette women's basketball season in so many ways.
First, the Golden Eagles got off to a slow start before responding with a solid second-half performance in which they played even with the Irish. Similarly Marquette's 6-10 start was countered by a by a very solid 7-6 end.
Secondly, a game against the nation's best was easily the most daunting game on the schedule, but it was just one of series of tests against non-conference behemouths. Finally, it was a testament to growth, learning and maturity.
With such a young team, these three elements were what MU was able to take away from the whole season, not just against the top-ranked opponent.
The campaign started off in Iowa City, Iowa, against a Hawkeye team under a new coach. A 13-point loss proved difficult to swallow, but Marquette's young guns kept the contest close most of the way and it was not until Iowa won the Big Ten title that Marquette knew what kind of opponent they were up against.
That trend continued for the most of the non-conference season. A win over Wis.-Milwaukee would prove bigger later in the year as the Panthers won the MCC title and earned an NCAA bid. A narrow loss to Northern Iowa was part of UNI's journey to the NIT. A victory over Michigan gave the Wolverines one of their biggest losses as they advanced to the second round of the NCAAs. BYU topped Marquette on its way to an NIT second round appearance and Marquette extended Colorado State to double overtime before losing by one. CSU made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The difficult non-conference slate was to prepare Marquette for what would be a seemingly easier Conference USA schedule.
The shock of the tough non-conference tests must have stuck with the young Eagles initially as MU dropped contests to DePaul and UAB -- both NIT teams.
However, a return to the more familiar U.S. Cellular Arena righted the ship for Marquette. After struggling through a difficult 5-8 non-conference schedule and starting the C-USA year at 0-2, Marquette won five of its next six games, including victories over NIT teams Memphis, Cincinnati and DePaul.
Just when the Golden Eagles seemed to get things back on track, a reversal of fortunues hit with a five game losing streak. In that span, Marquette had a narrow loss to Southern Miss, an overtime defeat to regular-season champion and NCAA Tournament team Louisville and a buzzer-beating loss to C-USA Tournament finalists and NIT team Cincinnati.
With the schedule makers on Marquette's side for the final three games of the season, MU defeated South Florida, Saint Louis and Charlotte, to finish the season with a wave of confidence heading to the all-important C-USA Tournament at the U.S. Cellular Arena. In closing out the year, MU saved its best play for the last, holding South Florida to 55, Saint Louis to 31 and Charlotte to 35 points.
In the tournament, Charlotte was given the opportunity to exact revenge for a 46-35 beating placed on it by Marquette just days earlier. Charlotte responded offensively, but the Golden Eagles too elevated their offensive game to come away with a 76-65 win to advance to meet two-time and defending C-USA Tournament Champion Tulane.
The Green Wave showed its prowess early, putting MU in a 12-point deficit early in the second half. However, relying on a defense that led the conference in opponents scoring, Marquette put the clamps on the eventual champions, held them to 19 points in the second half and led with just under 30 seconds to play.
A blocked three-point attempt by Tulane as time squirrled away landed in the wrong hands. Tulane center Janell Burse put in a lay-up and the Wave played hard-nosed defense to keep MU off the board in the game's final ticks. A one-point loss separated Marquette from the semifinals and who knows what thereafter.
Despite a 13-16 record on the year, the team had several accomplishments for the year. Going in, it was known that this season would be one of rebuilding and the five freshmen on the squad got their taste of the game on the next level. Not only did they get a taste, they got a whole mouthful as three of the five started at one point during the year and all saw significant playing time.
The inside play of Sarah Zawodny, Kristin Seffern, Becky Stieber and Rachel Klug continued to improve as the year progressed. One of MU's strong points had always been its strong inside game and the development of the new class of Marquette paint players continued.
Of course, no season concludes without the departure of team fixtures.
Each season, a class of seniors says good bye and this year was no different. 2000-01 marked the end of the collegiate careers of Heidi Bowman and Ebony Williams.
Bowman became the team leader after spending the past three seasons as the fourth scorer on deep team. Her talents showed as she led the squad in scoring most games and moved into 13th place on the all-time MU scoring list.
Williams, a defensive player, spend most of her time battling underneath the boards for a hard fought rebound or challenging a potential shooter to disrupt her shot.
Both had their place on the team, but the transition from on class to another continues. The 2000-01 season served as a continued passing of the guard from one class to another. Next season, a new group of leaders will emerge, taking with it the growth and knowledge from a hard-fought season before.
CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT
For the first time in Conference USA history, all the higher seeds won on the opening day of the C-USA tournament. However, it was the second round which proved to be the round for the upset. DePaul ousted top-seed Louisville and Cincinnati eliminated fourth-seed UAB.
For Marquette, knowing that a tournament victory was a must to continue its season, Marquette did all it could to advance to the NCAA Tournament and keep its season going. The Golden Eagles won their fourth consecutive game -- a first for the year -- before meeting eventual tournament champion Tulane in the C-USA Quarterfinals.
With a positive home crowd at its back, MU kept close with the Green Wave and led down the stretch. However it was not to be as Tulane escaped with a one-point win and Marquette finished out of the post season for the first time in five seasons and for the first time with Terri Mitchell as head coach.
Tulane survived its half of the bracket and met fifth-seeded Cincinnati in the tournament's title game. After a slow first half for both sides, Tulane fired up its offense in the second half and went on to a 13-point win. Tulane's Janell Burse was named to the all-tournament team as were the other top five scorers in the tournament -- Valerie King and K.B. Sharp from Cincinnati, Monet Sykes from Houston and Lenae Williams from DePaul.
DUO EARNS ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Senior forward Heidi Bowman and junior center Sarah Zawodny were named to the Third Team All-Conference USA squad as announced by the league. The honors were decided on by a vote by the head coaches, sports information directors and media covering each school.
The honor was the first for both players. Each had a successful season and a strong Conference USA slate. Bowman scored 14.5 points per game, the eighth best total in the conference. Zawodny averaged 10.6 points per game, 19th best in the league, and added 8.2 rebounds per game, the third best C-USA tally.
THE WELCOME RETURN OF THE DEFENSE
Marquette has been known for its defensive abilities in past years and showed in the last five games that there is no trend to move away from defense. Marquette held South Florida to 55 points and virtually shut down Saint Louis, allowing just 31 points. MU allowed just 10 field goals to Charlotte in a 46-35 win. In its three games prior to the C-USA Tournament, Marquette has held its opponents to a 40.4 scoring average and a 26.5 shooting percentage. In doing so. MU became stingiest defensive team in C-USA at 60.5 points allowed per game.
O'GRADY O'GREATY DOWN THE STRETCH
Freshman guard Katie O'Grady scored 11 points in two of the last six games and added a personal best 15 in the C-USA Tournament against Charlotte. In the last six games, O'Grady scored at a 7.0 per game clip.
1,000-POINT CLUB
Last season, three Marquette players -- Abbie Willenborg, Lisa Oldenburg and Kiesha Oliver -- ended their careers with over 1,000 points. This season senior Heidi Bowman joined the 1,000-point club with seven points against Tulane on Feb. 2. She scored her 1,000th career point on a free throw with 51 seconds left in the contest.
Needing 286 points this season, Bowman scored 421 points for a total of 1,110 career points. Only one season in her career, however, did Bowman score enough points for her to reach the feat as she has set a personal season best. In 1998-99, Bowman scored 331 points for the season (11.4 points per game). Last season, Bowman scored 258 points.
Bowman moved into 13th place on the Marquette all-time scoring list.
BOWMAN THE SHOWMAN
Senior forward Heidi Bowman is making the most of her final collegiate year. Now 27 games into the season, Bowman has led the Golden Eagles in scoring in all but six games. On four occasions this year, Bowman has set personal collegiate bests in scoring, racking up 26 points against Michigan, Colorado State and Cincinnati and then bettering those performances with a 28-point outing against South Florida.
BALANCED ATTACK
Against Louisville on Feb. 8, Marquette had four players score 10 or more points for the first time in the season. Sarah Zawodny and Kristi Johnson scored 19 points each. Heidi Bowman and Kristin Seffern scored 10 each. Also in that contest, Kelly Schwerman scored a career-high tying eight points.
ZAWODNY CONTINUES MU'S STRONG INSIDE GAME
With Marquette's inside game being filled during the duration of her career by Lisa Oldenburg and Abbie Willenborg, Zawodny spent her first two seasons backing the duo up and learning. Apparently the apprenticeship has paid off. Against, Louisville on Jan. 14, Zawodny became the first player other than Heidi Bowman to lead the team in scoring in a game this season. She scored 22 points, a career high. On two other occasions, Bowman was tied by Zawodny as MU's leading scorer. Zawodny recorded her second-consecutive 20+ scoring output with a 20-point effort against DePaul. She also grabbed 15 boards, the sixth time this year she has grabbed 10 or more rebounds. She grabbed 11 boards against Charlotte for her seventh double-digit rebound effort of the year and scored the game-winning free throws with 28 seconds remaining. She tossed in a team-high 17 points against Tulane and had a co-team-high with 19 points against Louisville. She led the team in rebounding with 8.2 and hit 50 percent of her shots.
PLAYERS STEP UP ON THE ROAD
Three career highs were tied or broken as Marquette won two games on the road at Charlotte and Saint Louis on Jan. 26 and 28. In the Jan. 26 contest at Charlotte, freshman Katie O'Grady came off the bench to score a career high eight points. In the Jan. 28 Saint Louis matchup, sophomore Rachel Klug scored double figures for the first time in her career with 10 points and Kristin Seffern scored 13 points.
At Louisville, Kristi Johnson set a season best 19 points hitting five three pointers for the first time this season. Kristin Seffern set a career best with 11 boards in that contest. Against Cincinnati, Heidi Bowman hit 11-of-19 shots to tie her career high of 26 points.
At Houston, O'Grady bettered her personal best set at Charlotte with 11 points. Crystal Weaver also set a personal best with 11 points against UH. Against South Florida, Bowman set her career high with 28 points, while Kelly Schwerman hit three three-pointers to set her career best at nine points.
MU HITS OFFENSIVE GROVE IN SECOND HALF
Marquette recorded two halves in one game in which it shot better than 40 percent for the first time at Saint Louis on Jan. 28. Against the Bills, the Golden Eagles shot 44 percent in the first half and 42 in the second half for a game total of 42.9 percent. Surprisingly, Marquette did not set a season high for field goal percentage in that game. MU shot 44.9 percent against Memphis and 43.8 percent against Colorado State.
The Golden Eagles did set a season best and shot over 40 percent in both halves for the second time of the year against Louisville. Marquette shot a season best 45.6 percent in the overtime loss. MU shot 46.4 percent in the first half and 44.8 percent in the second half and overtime.
MU came just short of tying its season best shooting performance against Cincinnati. MU shot 45.5 percent, with 46.4 percent shooting in the first half and 44.4 percent shooting in the second half.
Marquette also was an offensive juggernaut against South Florida, shooting 46 percent for the game -- 42.9 percent in the first and 50.0 percent in the second.
Against Saint Louis, as it did in its first game with the Bills, Marquette showed its offensive nature. The Eagles hit a season high 48.3 percent of its shots, landing 44 percent in the first half and 52 percent in the second.
ROAD WOES CURED
After starting the season 0-5 on the road, Marquette won two road games on Jan. 26 and 28th at Charlotte and Saint Louis. In doing so, Marquette also won three-straight games for the first time this season. Since that successful road swing, MU has gone 1-3 on the road, finishing the year at 3-5 on the road.
CAREER HIGHS SET IN LOUISVILLE CONTESTS
Despite a 76-61 loss, two MU players set career highs in points. Junior center Sarah Zawodny set her career high for the fourth different time this season with a 22-point effort, hitting 8-of-11 shots. Guard Rashida Gales scored a double-figure output for the first time in her short career hitting 3-of-8 shots for 10 points.
In the 79-74 overtime loss at Louisville, Kristin Seffern set a career high with 11 rebounds and Kelly Schwerman tied a career high with eight points.
ACCURACY ENCOURAGED
At 50.0 percent, junior center Sarah Zawodny led the team in field goal shooting. WIth a four-game pace of 68.8 percent (22-32) against Memphis, Cincinnati, Louisville and DePaul earlier in the season, Zawodny's field goal percentage shot up from 46.9 percent to 52.3 at that point. Her total increased back to 52.3 percent after a 6-6 night against Saint Louis on Feb. 23.
SEEKING THE CENTURY MARK IN WINS
Head coach Terri Mitchell claimed her 99th career victory in a 76-65 win over Charlotte. Mitchell, in her fifth season as a head coach, needs just one more wins to reach the 100 mark and will tally that early next year. Only one coach in MU history has won as many games. Tat Shiely won 111 games in 11 seasons with Marquette.
Mitchell became the second winningest coach in Marquette history against Saint Louis with her 95th win of her career, passing Jim Jabir who won 94 games in six seasons.
TALES OF TWO HALVES
Despite a late-season reversal in which six of the last 11 games have not gone accordingly, a season long trend with Marquette has been having one very good shooting half and one not so good shooting half. The Golden Eagles shot 38.5 percent. However, Marquette did prove its shooting ability having 11 40 percent-plus shooting halves in the last 16. In its better half, Marquette is shooting 44.9 percent (345-768), and in the other halves, the Golden Eagles are shooting 33.0 percent (270-817).
KEEP THE SCORING DOWN
Marquette was 12-3 in games in which it held its opponents to 60 or fewer points and 1-13 in games in which it has allowed 61 or more points. In its wins, Marquette has held its opponents to as low as 31 points (against Saint Louis) and has allowed as many as 65 (to Charlotte). Twice this season, Marquette has held its opponents to 35 or fewer. In its 12 wins, Marquette is allowing its opponents to score 54.7 points per game.
POOR SHOOTING NOT ALWAYS A LOSS AND VICE VERSA
On six occasions has Marquette shot 35 percent or better in each half, with a 2-4 record in those contests. Against DePaul on Jan. 21, Marquette was 30 percent or lower in each half in a 53-48 win. Also, MU shot just 32 percent or lower in each half of a 46-35 win over Charlotte. Conversely to DePaul, MU shot better than 40 percent in each half to both Louisville and Cincinnati, but lost in overtime to Louisville, 79-74, and on a last-second three-pointer to Cincinnati, 63-61.
FRESHMEN IMPORTANT IN FIRST YEAR
With five first-year players on the roster, a lot is expected of the new crew. Four of the five saw significant action in the season opener against Iowa and all five have played significant minutes, with two earning starting time. Crystal Weaver and Kelly Schwerman each earned starts in the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic. Schwerman started six games in a row and Katie O'Grady broke the starting lineup against South Florida.
All five have contributed to the Marquette cause this season, with Becky Stieber, Schwerman and Weaver each averaging at least 12 minutes per game this season. In all, the freshman five have contributed 22 percent of the Marquette scoring, 22 percent of the rebounding and 25 percent of all playing time.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Marquette women's basketball team pursued a fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a schedule that included 14 home contests, games with five NCAA tournament teams -- Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Michigan, UAB, and Tulane -- from a year ago, and the Conference USA Postseason tournament. Marquette faced the most difficult non conference schedule of any team in C-USA.
Marquette had the 38th-ranked schedule according to the The Collegiate Basketball News Women's RPI College Basketball Ratings. Heading into the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Marquette non-conference opponents finished 215-119 (.664) and had an average RPI of 78.7.
In all, 14 of Marquette's 22 opponents advanced to the postseason, with seven each in the NCAA and WNIT. Notre Dame won the national title, four others won their first round NCAA game. Seven opponents went to the NIT, with three going to the second round and one (UAB) advanced to the quarterfinals.
LAST FIVE MINUTES OF PLAY
Many basketball games are decided in the final five minutes of play, as Marquette demonstrated on the road at Louisville and Cincinnati and most obviously in the C-USA Tournament loss to Tulane. In compiling a 13-16 overall record, Marquette scored 16 percent of its total points this season in the last five minutes. MU's shooting percentage dropped eight percent in the last minutes of the game.
What kept Marquette's offense up in the final five minutes is its offensive rebounding. The Golden Eagles pulled down 3.0 offensive boards in the last five minutes.
HOME WIN STREAK HALTED
Oregon State and Cincinnati have something in common. They are amongst the select few who have defeated Marquette on its home floor. Oregon State ended MU's 23-game home winning streak with a 64-50 decision on Dec. 2, 2000.
With a 13-0 home record in 1999-2000 and a 2-0 home record in 2000-2001 prior to the OSU loss, Marquette had amassed a 23-game winning streak at home. Marquette suffered its last home loss before the Oregon State decision on Jan. 1, 1999, a 61-58 defeat at the hands of Cincinnati.
Heading into the 2000-2001 season, Marquette had won 62 percent of all its home games in its 26 seasons. Marquette is 184-116 all-time at home and is 96-44 at the U.S. Cellular Arena. This season, Marquette was 9-7 at home.
In Terri Mitchell's five seasons, Marquette is 53-12 (.815) at home.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
With the loss to Iowa, Marquette is 13-13 all-time in season-opening contests. The Golden Eagles, had won their last three season openers, prior to the road loss to Iowa. Last season, Marquette knocked off Iowa 69-64 in the beginner in Milwaukee. In games at home to open the season, Marquette is 8-7. When opening on the road, Marquette is 5-5. On neutral courts in openers, Marquette is 0-1.
In its first road contest of the year, Marquette maintains a 6-20 record all-time. In its first home game of the season, MU has a 16-10 record.
TOURNAMENT PLAY
Marquette fell to Northern Iowa and defeated Southern Utah in the consolation game of the Saint Mary's Thanksgiving Classic. Scoring 20 against Northern Iowa and 15 against Southern Utah, Heidi Bowman was named to the all-tournament team, joining Jerkisha Dosty, Saint Mary's (Most Valuable Player), Jermisha Dosty, Saint Mary's, Nikki Spettel, Northern Iowa, and Sarah Mortenson, Southern Utah.
The Golden Eagles won a first round game in the C-USA Tournament before losing to Tulane.
Marquette holds an all-time record of 54-66 in tournament action. The Golden Eagles have won five tournament titles in the history of the program, winning the fifth in last season's OSU Classic.
MU SIGNS TWO DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Katie Alsdurf and Lesley Juedes signed national letters of intent with Marquette. Alsdurf and Juedes will join the Marquette women's basketball team for the 2001-2002 season.
Alsdurf, a 6-foot guard from Forest Lake High School in Forest Lake, Minn., is a three-time all-state performer and is the backbone of her high school team. Playing for Jen Hesse at Forest Lake, Alsdurf has been named a Player-of-the-Year candidate in Minnesota, an Honorable Mention All-American in 1999 and 2000 by Street & Smith and an Honorable Mention All-American by USA Today. Alsdurf is also ranked 58th by the All Star Girls Report. An exceptional student, Alsdurf is the top student in her class of 558 and plays AAU for Brian Frye with the Burnsville Blaze. She chose Marquette over Notre Dame, Penn State and Georgia.
Juedes, a 6-foot-1 forward from Ripon High School in Ripon, Wis., is her school's fourth leading scorer all-time and should be Ripon's all-time scorer after her senior season. Playing for Sheri Quamme, Juedes scored 19.8 points per game (a Ripon single-season record), 10.6 rebounds per game, and 1.8 assists per game as a junior. A two year starter, Juedes has been Ripon's MVP for the last two years, was first-team All-Conference in that same time period, and was first-team All-Area and Conference Player of the Year as a junior. Juedes was also a first-team All-State selection in 2000 by Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook.