No. 19 Marquette Travels to No. 24 Miami for WNIT Semifinals

MILWAUKEE – No. 19 Marquette women's basketball team will embark on its first road game of the season, traveling to No. 24 Miami for the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Marquette (3-0) rolled past Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals on Sunday in a 102-61 decision, which marked the second consecutive game that the Golden Eagles reached 100 points. Allazia Blockton led six MU players in double digits for the second straight game with 22 points, while Natisha Hiedeman recorded the first double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-high 10 assists. Erika Davenport added 18 points, while Danielle King and Chloe Marotta connected on 13 and 11 points, respectively.

This is the second time that the Golden Eagles will participate in the Preseason WNIT after playing in the opening year, 1994 taking on Southwest Missouri State. Marquette is one of 16 teams in this year's field and has reached the semifinals for the first time.

If Marquette wins the team will travel to Iowa State for the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3:30 CT live on the CBS Sports Network.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

LIVE STATS: https://admin.hurricanesports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
WATCH: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453247/marquette-vs-miami-w-basketball
(Available through the WatchESPN app with a cable log-in)

OPPONENT

MIAMI: (3-0): Miami also opened the season 3-0 and reached the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT with a 75-62 win over Hartford. The Hurricanes are ranked NO. 24 in both the AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll and are led by Beatrice Mompremier with 15.7 points per game, while also grabbing 10.7 boards. Mykea Gry is also in double figures with 13.3 points per game, while Sarah Mortensen and Emese Hot tally 12.0 and 11.3 points, respectively.
This will be the first meeting between the two programs.

WHAT THE TEAM IS SAYING
On her strong play against UNI…
"It was nice, my teammates did a nice job of giving me the ball in the post. I definitely like trying to post up a lot down there and I was looking for opportunities. I'd like to say rebounding is my thing, so I look for the boards on offense, defense and that is one of the things we focus on as a team as well, so coming off the bench I want to make sure to do that for my team.

On facing Miami in a top-25 matchup …
"I'm excited. It is my first away game as well, so I'm excited to go down there and play a top-25 team. We will see how we do, but I am expecting that we bring the juice again."
Chloe Marotta
Freshman, Forward

STORYLINES:

Senior Danielle King reached the 1,000-career scoring mark with a three-point shot at the top of the key late in the fourth quarter of MU's win over Montana State. Marquette now has five, active 1,000-point scorers led by Allazia Blockton' s 1,838 career points. Natisha Hiedeman has 1,341, Erika Davenport is at 1,205, Amani Wilborn has 1,047 and King is at 1,015. Marquette is currently the only Division I program with five, 1,000-point scorers. No. 1 Notre Dame has four active 1,000-point scorers with a fifth under 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. She is currently second all-time and is also likely to also become the first player to surpass 2,000 career points at Marquette, male or female.
Marquette has had two consecutive games in which six players reached double digits- against Montana State and Northern Iowa on Sunday. Last season the Golden Eagles had six players reach double figure scoring just once- in a road overtime loss to last year's national champion Notre Dame.
The Golden Eagles have dished out more than 20 assists in every game played this season. MU handed out 22 helpers in the season-opening win over South Dakota State, gave out 24 assists in the win over Montana State and 22 against UNI.
Head coach Carolyn Kieger's high scoring offense is shining though in both games this season. MU is averaging 97.7 points per game through two games played.
Kieger returns to Miami to face her former team for the first time since taking over as head coach of the Golden Eagles. She was an assistant coach under the Hurricanes' Katie Meier from 2008-2014.
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 74-56.
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.