No. 19 Marquette Hosts Grand Valley State in Thursday Exhibition

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's basketball team makes its first appearance of the 2018-19 campaign on Thursday, Nov. 1 when the Golden Eagles host Grand Valley State in an exhibition at the Al McGuire Center. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. CT.

Plenty of familiar faces will line the court as expectations are high for Marquette, returning all five starters from last season's squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Recently picked as co-favorites to win the BIG EAST Conference, along with DePaul, the Golden Eagles are ranked No. 19 in the AP Top-25 preseason poll, announced on Wednesday.

BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Allazia Blockton leads her fellow seniors Erika Davenport, Natisha Hiedeman, Danielle King and Amani Wilborn in the starting lineup, with classmate Sandra Dahling leading the team vocally as the captain.

Marquette also returns juniors Altia Anderson and Isabelle Spingola and sophomores Selena Lott and Lauren Van Kleunen. Junior Amanda Maqueia and freshman Chloe Marotta are the lone newcomers for the season.

The Golden Eagles officially open the 2018-19 campaign on Tuesday, Nov. 6, hosting South Dakota State at 11:30 a.m. CT.

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LIVE STATS: https://gomarquette.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

OPPONENT

GRAND VALLEY STATE: Grand Valley State is a Division II powerhouse, selected first in the GLIAC South Coaches' Poll. Senior Natalie Koenig and junior Cassidy Boensch were also named to the GLIAC South Division Preseason All-Conference Team. In the 2017-18 season, the Lakers made their third consecutive NCAA National Tournament appearance after posting a 26-7 overall record and a 16-4 record against conference competition. The Lakers also made their third consecutive trip to the GLIAC Tournament championship game.

STORYLINES:

Marquette has four, 1,000-point scorers led by Allazia Blockton' s 1,774 career points. Natisha Hiedeman has 1,296, Erika Davenport is at 1,173 and Amani Wilborn has 1,006. Danielle King is just 17 points away from reaching the 1,000-point scoring mark (983) and will likely do so early in the season. When this occurs Marquette will be the only Division I program with five, 1,000-point scorers. Preseason No. 1 Notre Dame also have four active 1,000-point scorers with a fifth just 200 points from the milestone.
Allazia Blockton is poised to become Marquette's all-time scoring leader in the non-conference portion of the season, breaking Krystal Ellis' record of 1,940 from 2005-09. Blockton is likely to also become the first player to surpass 2,000 career points at Marquette, male or female.
Blockton was tabbed as unanimous BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year and is the reigning league player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year. Davenport, Hiedeman and Wilborn were all picked to the BIG EAST Preseason Team.
The Golden Eagles spent the summer on a foreign tour in Australia from August 9-20. The team played four games overseas and experienced quite a few adventures, including snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and visiting the Sydney Opera House.
Head coach Carolyn Kieger enters her fifth season at the helm of the Golden Eagles. She has guided Marquette to its most wins in any two-year span in program history with 49, including back-to-back 20-win campaigns. Kieger's record at Marquette stands at 72-55.
Marquette earned an at-large bid to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, reaching the second round for the first time since 2011 and just the fifth time in program history, also marking the first time since 1999-2000 the Golden Eagles have made back-to-back trips to the Big Dance.