Marquette University Athletics
Golden Eagles Begin New Year Against Penn State
1/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Marquette?s Mitchell to coach 250th career game
Click here for complete release in PDF format.
Penn State, an NCAA regional finalist a year ago, comes to Marquette in the first game of 2005 for both teams. Marquette is coming off a win in the consolation game of the Surf ?n Slam Classic, while Penn State defeated Ohio State in a conference game. Both were played Dec. 30.
The Golden Eagles and Lady Lions have never met. Marquette is trying to re-establish a home court win streak after defeating St. Bonaventure on Dec. 21. Penn State is trying to pick up its second road win after playing a brutal non-conference schedule on the road which included Duke, Texas, Baylor and Texas Tech.
The meeting between Penn State and Marquette is the first in series history, however one member of the Marquette staff is familiar with Penn State. Marquette assistant Cara Consuegra came to Marquette after a stint as Director of Basketball Operations at Penn State.
The game marks the 250th game as a head coach by Marquette?s Terri Mitchell.
With a Win against Penn State ...
Marquette would win its second straight at home and improve to 14-1 all-time at the Al McGuire Center ... Marquette would finish with a non-conference record of 9-4 and would have at least nine non-conference wins for the second straight year.
Scouting Penn State
If Penn State hadn?t played any games in Texas this season, it would have a very respectable 6-2 record. Three losses to nationally ranked teams in the Lone Star State have the Lady Lions sitting 6-5 coming into their game with Marquette. That 6-5 mark, however, earns Penn State a 15 ranking in the CollegeRPI.com rankings with a strength of schedule of 2.
Penn State has played Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor all on the road, in addition to games at Duke and Pittsburgh. The road tested Lions have only a 1-5 mark away from State College, but they?ve played some of the best teams in the nation.
Penn State offers a high scoring attack, averaging 70.9 points per game. They surrender over 70 as well. With Marquette averaging 70.2 points per game, this could be a high scoring affair.
Penn State is led by senior guard Tanisha Wright. She averages 21.9 points per game. Two other starters ? Jess Strom and Jennifer Harris ? are also scoring 12 points per game.
Penn State head coach Rene Portland is in her 25th season and owns a 566-189 record. In her 29 year career, she is 655-227.
On the Air: The Marquette/Penn State game is broadcast on WJYI AM (1310) with Kent Sommerfeld and Katie O?Grady handling the call. That broadcast is available on www.gomarquette.com.
| Marquette Probable Starters |
