No. 20/16 Marquette Hosts No. 24/24 DePaul Friday

MILWAUKEE – It's a Top-25 showdown on Friday as the No. 20/16 Marquette women's basketball team welcomes No. 24/24 DePaul to the Al McGuire Center in a nationally televised contest, which will also conclude a six-game homestand for the squad.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CT on FS1 with Jeff Levering (play-by-play) and Sarah Kustok (analyst) providing commentary in the Golden Eagles' second national televised game of the season.

For the third straight season Marquette (11-3, 2-0) has opened BIG EAST play with a perfect 2-0 record after garnering wins over Providence and Creighton. Against the Bluejays, the Golden Eagles had all five starters record double digits, which was the fifth time this season reaching that milestone.

Allazia Blockton leads her fellow seniors with 16.5 points per game, while Natisha Hiedeman is close behind at 16.1 points per game. Erika Davenport and Danielle King are also averaging double figures at 11.9 and 11.0, respectively as Amani Wilborn is nearly there tallying 9.8 points per night.

Marquette will hit the road for the first time since Dec. 9 and travel to Villanova (Jan. 11) and Georgtown (Jan. 13).

OPPONENT
No. 24/24 DEPAUL (10-4, 1-1 BIG EAST): Nationally ranked DePaul dropped its BIG EAST opener to Creighton before rebounding with an 88-62 victory over Providence on Monday. The Blue Demons meet their match in Marquette Friday as the two teams combine for the most explosive offenses in the league and across the country. DePaul is scoring 86.5 points per game to lead the conference and rank fourth in the country, while a 12.8 three-pointers per game average leads the NCAA.

Like the Golden Eagles, DePaul also shares the ball extremely well dishing out 20.6 assists per game, which is tops in the BIG EAST and sixth in the NCAA. Ashton Millender leads the team with 13.6 points per game, while Chante Stonewall averages 13.2, ranking eighth and 13^th in the BIG EAST, respectively.

THE SERIES
Long time conference rivals Marquette and DePaul will meet for the 72nd time on Friday evening. DePaul owns a 44-27 record in the all-time series though Marquette has won four of the past six. Each team won a regular season game on its home court and the Blue Demons won the 2018 BIG EAST Tournament title over MU.

STORYLINES

Allazia Blockton is just 11 points (1,989) from reaching 2,000 career points for the first time in Marquette program history, men's or women's. Jerel McNeal is the men's all-time leading scorer with 1,985 career points.
Marquette is currently the only program is the country with five active 1,000-point scorers. Blockton (1,989) is joined by Natisha Hiedeman (1,522), Erika Davenport (1,340), Amani Wilborn (1,143) and King (1,137). No. 2 Notre Dame has four 1,000 point scorers with the fifth just six from the milestone (as of Jan. 3).
Marquette owns an RPI of No. 17 through games on Jan. 3. The BIG EAST has seven schools in the top-100.
Erika Davenport has 897 career boards, which is 11th among current NCAA career numbers. She is currently tied for 7th in the BIG EAST, leading the Golden Eagles with 7.9 rebounds per game.
Marquette ranks 20th in field goal percentage at a 46.7 (438-937) clip led by a 65.5 percent mark (74-113), which is second in the BIG EAST and eighth in the NCAA. The Golden Eagles have shot better than 50% in six games this season and are 5-1 when this occurs.