No. 14 Marquette Hosts Seton Hall on MPS Day

MILWAUKEE – The 14^th ranked Marquette women's basketball team opened the week with a new program-best No. 14 ranking in the AP Top-25 Poll and another program-best No. 13 ranking in the USA Today Coaches' Poll and will host Seton Hall on Friday morning for annual Milwaukee Public Schools' Day.

Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m. CT on the BIG EAST Digital Network with Kent Sommerfeld on play-by-play and Matt Shumacker handling analyst duties from the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles are on a five-game winning streak sitting at 5-0 in the BIG EAST standings, tied with Butler at the top and enter the game with a +27.2-scoring margin over their league opponents.

Natisha Hiedeman earned her fifth weekly award of the season this week as she was named to the BIG EAST honor roll following a pair of 20+ point efforts on the road at Villanova and Georgetown last weekend. The Green Bay native leads Marquette (14-3, 5-0) with 17.8 points per game and has taken over as the top scorer for the BIG EAST as well. Selena Lott stepped up into a starting role, while BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year Allazia Blockton has been sidelined by an injury. In her four games in the starting lineup Lott is averaging 12.8 points per game, shooting 68.0 percent and collecting 2.3 steals per game.

Following the Friday matinee, the Golden Eagles will host St. John's on Sunday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. CT, also on BEDN. The Red Storm will play at No. 24 DePaul on Friday evening.

OPPONENT
SETON HALL (11-5, 3-2 BIG EAST): Shadeen Samuels leads the Pirates with 17.1 points per game as Seton Hall comes to Milwaukee having won two in-a-row over Creighton and Providence last weekend. She is the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week averaging a double-double in the Pirates' victories.

Seton Hall ranks third in the league averaging 78.6 points per game, behind Marquette (84.4) and DePaul (82.9) and rank second dishing out 18.8 assists per game.

THE SERIES
Marquette leads the all-time series 13-7 over the Pirates, including winning both games last season. Seton Hall is 0-9 at the Al McGuire Center.

STORYLINES

On Friday, Feb. 8, at 7:00 PM CT, Marquette hosts Georgetown in FOX Sports' third women's basketball all-access game. Golden Eagles coach Carolyn Kieger and Hoyas coach James Howard wear live microphones from tipoff through both teams' postgame speeches. Play-by-play announcer Lisa Byington and analyst Monica McNutt are live from the Al McGuire Center with the call on FS1.

Natisha Hiedeman has been unstoppable in the past six games and is averaging 23.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game dating back to Dec. 22 against Notre Dame. That includes five 20+ point efforts with a career-high-tying 32 in the victory over DePaul.

Erika Davenport has 921 career boards, which is 11th among current NCAA career numbers. She is currently tied for 4th in the BIG EAST, leading the Golden Eagles with 7.9 rebounds per game.