Marquette University Athletics
No. 19 Golden Eagles Host USF on Senior Night
2/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2007
MILWAUKEE -
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The no. 19/19 Marquette women's basketball team will play its final home game of the 2006-07 season Saturday, Feb. 24, when it hosts USF at 7 p.m., at the Al McGuire Center. Seniors Christina Quaye, Danielle Kamm, Efueko Osagie-Landry and Jasmine McCullough will take to the Al McGuire Court for the final time of their Marquette basketball careers against USF. Marquette will honor these four women for their contributions to the program in a post-game ceremony.
"Senior night is definitely a special night because it is a night of celebration. It is one of those nights where you have to keep your emotions in check because you feel so deeply about the ones who have committed as much as they have," said head coach Terri Mitchell. "This group has gone above and beyond anything you could ask, not just what they do on the court, but off the court as well. They are winners, they are women of excellence and just a joy to coach. In these four players are qualities we hope that every player who comes through this program has; character and integrity. We hope that Saturday night is just an opportunity for us to celebrate who they are."
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Time Warner Sports Ch. 32 with Lance Allan and former Marquette great Tony Smith calling the action. It will also be available via the internet on Marquette All-Access courtesy of MUTV, and on the radio on WJYI 1340 AM.
Of the 122 games Danielle Kamm has played in, she has started in 114 over the past four seasons. While averaging 8.6 points per game for her career, Kamm became the 18th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark and has recorded 1,053 points for her career. She has scored in double figures 50 times, including 10 times this season and has eight games for her career where she has registered a double-double in points and rebounds. Kamm ranks seventh all-time on Marquette's career three-point field goals made list with 106.
"She has been the most versatile player I have ever coached," added Mitchell. "She can shoot the `three,' she can penetrated, she can go inside and out. She is very quiet, but she is just a workhorse. She is in the gym all of the time working on her game."
Jasmine McCullough jumped into the starting lineup as a sophomore and never looked back as she has started 87 of 118 career games played. A vocal and valuable leader on and off the court, McCullough has averaged 6.7 points per game for her career. She scored in double figures 35 times and has registered 10 or more rebounds in four games the four seasons.
"She has been the most versatile player I have ever coached," added Mitchell. "She can shoot the `three,' she can penetrated, she can go inside and out. She is very quiet, but she is just a workhorse. She is in the gym all of the time working on her game."
A fifth-year senior due to taking a medical redshirt for the 2005-06 season, Osagie-Landry has been a valuable reserve in 88 of the 111 games she has played. She went from MU's sixth man to starter in the Golden Eagles' last 10 games to give her 23 starts for her career. A defensive spark, the Oklahoma City native has contributed 5.1 points per game this season and a career best 5.2 rebounds per game.
"We are so proud of the fact that she is has balanced being a mom, a student-athlete and a wife," Mitchell said. "She will be always known for her defense and her wanting to shut the other team's best guard down. She has such a passion for to defend and not caring about the offense statistics, but knowing that her defense gets our offense going. Whether she starts or comes off the bench she is an incredible spark."
An impact player from the very moment she stepped on Al McGuire Court, Quaye has started in all but four games for her career. She is one of five players in program history to record over 1,500 points and 700 rebounds. Quaye's 1,636 points stands fifth on Marquette's all-time scorers list and her 721 rebounds is seventh all-time. Quaye has hit some big shots in her career but arguably not one bigger than her lay-up in the closing seconds to put Marquette over Old Dominion, 67-64, in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. She was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team for the 2004-05 season and was a second team All-BIG EAST honoree in 2005-06. This season Quaye is a four-time BIG EAST Honor Roll selection and is Marquette's second leading scorer with 16.4 points per game. She was named the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Tournament MVP following the Golden Eagles championship run in St. Thomas.
"She was impact from day one she wanted the ball inside," said Mitchell. "When we went to Duke and played Old Dominion in the first round (of the NCAA Tournament), she was the one who took the last shot that put us up and give us the lead. That alone was an example of what she did year in and year out of being the one making the decisions. Nothing phases her. She is competitor and a fighter, and just solid in her play for four straight years."
A win over USF would give MU a school record 23 wins for the season. In the BIG EAST standings, Marquette is currently in a tie for third place with Notre Dame, but the Golden Eagles would win the tie-breaker due to their defeat of the Fighting Irish on Jan. 23. Notre Dame's game with Rutgers Saturday, at Noon ET also has implications to MU's BIG EAST Tournament seed.
In their last time out, the Golden Eagles (22-5, 10-4) slipped and fell at Seton Hall, 63-58. Sophomore standout Krystal Ellis scored 25 points, including Marquette's last 10 points of the game in the loss. She leads the team with 18.1 ppg.
USF (18-9, 8-6 BIG EAST) enters its penultimate game of the regular season with Marquette on the losing end in four of its last five games. Its lone win in its last five outings was at Providence, 78-64, on Feb. 13. In the Bulls' last time out, they were defeated by Connecticut, 81-67. USF will play its final game of the regular season Monday against Seton Hall. If the conference standings were decided today, USF would be the ninth seed in BIG EAST tournament which begins March 3.
The Bulls are led by Jessica Dickson, one of three unanimous preseason All-BIG EAST selections, who was recently named to the Naismith Award Final 30 List. Her scoring average of 20.0 ppg stands as the second best average in the conference behind Louisville's Angel McCoughtry. In BIG EAST play, she is averaging 18.4 ppg, a mark that puts her fifth on the conference only leaderboard.
Shantia Grace is second on the team with 15. 3 ppg to go along with 4.85 assists per game - the conference's second best assists average. Nalini Miller follows with 9.3 ppg and team leading 8.3 rebounds per game.
Collectively USF has averaged 74.0 points per game while holding its opponents to 63.7 points per outing.
The Bulls are 1-5 this season against ranked teams. Its lone win over a team in the top-25 was over then no. 15 Lousiville, 74-58, on Jan. 16.
Saturday night's game will be the 13th all-time meeting between the Bulls and the Golden Eagles. Marquette owns the all-time series, 11-1, that dates back to 1996. The Bulls 70-58 win over the Golden Eagles was their first in team history. MU is 5-0 when playing in Milwaukee.
