#MUWBB Heads East to Play Seton Hall, St. John's

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette women's basketball team is back in action for the first time since Dec. 22 as it heads to the east coast to take on Seton Hall and St. John's in a three-day span. John Fanta (play-by-play) and Phil Stern (color commentary) will be on the call for the SHU game while Fanta (play-by-play) and Kim Adams (color commentary) will be on the all for the SJU game.

The Golden Eagles (6-1, 3-0 BIG EAST) last played on Dec. 22, defeating Xavier 69-56. The team went on pause due to a positive COVID-19 test after the holiday break. Prior to that, MU had won five straight games, including a perfect 3-0 mark in BIG EAST play since dropping a non-conference game to Milwaukee on Dec. 2.

Led by second year head coach Megan Duffy, the Golden Eagles are coming off a 24-8 (13-5 BIG EAST) season in which they finished as conference runner-up and advanced to the BIG EAST tournament title game for the fourth straight year.

Although MU is anchored by seniors Selena Lott (17.1 ppg.) and Lauren Van Kleunen (13.6 ppg.), the team returns eight letterwinners and three starters from last year. This includes BIG EAST All-Freshman Team selection Camryn Taylor, who's averaging 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds as a sophomore this year.

Seton Hall (4-3, 2-2 BIG EAST) is led by eighth-year head coach Anthony Borzella, who returned to his alma mater in 2013. SHU has made two NCAA tournaments under his watch and is led by star guard Lauren Park-Lane, who leads the team with 20.0 points and 5.6 assists per game.

St. John's (4-5, 1-3 BIG EAST) came to Milwaukee on Dec. 16 and fell to MU 66-62 in a tightly contested battle. Leilani Correa had a game-high 31 points for the Red Storm. Led by Joe Tartamella, SJU is looking to bounce back with a big home win. The Golden Eagles have taken five straight in the series.

HOW TO FOLLOW:
The Seton Hall game will be televised on FloHoops and the St. John's game will be on FS1. Live stats and audio for the Seton Hall game will be available on SHUPirates.com. Live stats for the St. John's game will be made available on RedStormSports.com. Make sure to follow along on Twitter @MarquetteWBB for live in-game updates.

GAME 1 DETAILS
Marquette (6-1, 3-0 BIG EAST) at Seton Hall (4-3, 2-2 BIG EAST)
Walsh Gym
South Orange, N.J.
Friday, Jan. 15
Noon CT

GAME 2 DETAILS
Marquette (6-1, 3-0 BIG EAST) at St. John's (4-5, 1-3 BIG EAST)
Carnesecca Arena
Queens, N.Y.
Sunday, Jan. 17
1 p.m. CT

LIVE COVERAGE
LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

LAST TIME OUT
• MU defeated Xavier 69-56 on Dec. 22 to head into the holiday break with a 6-1 (3-0 BIG EAST) record.
• Eight different Golden Eagles scored between five and 13 points in an extremely balanced team effort. Senior guard Selena Lott scored 11 of her team-high 13 points in the second half to help MU earn the 13-point victory. Lauren Van Kleunen added nine points and tied a season-high with seven rebounds.
• Marquette led by as many as 23 points in the second half and didn't let the lead shrink any lower than 10 in the final 20 minutes of play.
• The Golden Eagles won the battle on the glass, 40-24, and held Xavier to just 34% (22-63) shooting from the floor. MU shot a scorching 56% (29/51) from the field, its highest single-game shooting percentage this season.

STARTING FIVE
• The Golden Eagles are 16-5 in the BIG EAST under Coach Duffy, including a perfect 10-0 record at home.
• Coach Duffy coached her 100th career game as a head coach on Thursday, Dec. 10. She holds a 74-29 (.718) overall record, including a 30-9 (.769) mark at Marquette. Coach Duffy holds the best coaching record in program history through her first 39 games as the head coach. The next closest was Terri Mitchell (1996-14), who went 27-12 through her first 39 games.
• The Golden Eagles are 22-1 under Coach Duffy when leading at halftime and 13-1 when they turn the ball over fewer times than their opponent.
• MU is 17-2 when scoring more than 70 points under Coach Duffy and 20-2 when shooting more free throws than its opponent.
• In the 39 games of the Coach Duffy era, the Golden Eagles have outrebounded their opponent in 36 of those games (28-8 record). They'll look to continue that streak this weekend.

SCOUTING THE PIRATES – ALL-TIME SERIES
• Head Coach Anthony Borzella has turned SHU around completely and reached the postseason five times with two NCAA Tournament appearances since becoming head coach in 2013-14.
• Sophomore guard Lauren Park-Lane leads the Pirates with 20.0 points per game and has scored in double figures in every game this season. She also has three 20+ point games.
• Mya Jackson (15.0 ppg.), Andra Espinoza-Hunter (14.7 ppg.) and Desiree Elmore (14.2 ppg.) are the three other Pirates to average at least 10 points per game. No one else scores more than six a game.
• MU leads the all-time series 16-8 and had won seven straight games in the series before the Pirates defeated the Golden Eagles 72-60 last year in South Orange.
• The Golden Eagles won their home game 81-60 against SHU least year. Camyn Taylor scored a team-high 23 points while Selena Lott had 19 points.

SCOUTING THE RED STORM – ALL-TIME SERIES
• Under the leadership of Coach Tartamella, SJU has made six postseason appearances, including two NCAA tournament trips. The Red Storm were on track to make their seventh postseason in eight years last season before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
• SJU is led by senior guard and 2019-20 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Qadashah Hoppie, who missed the first three games of the season before coming back to average 16.6 points and 3.3 rebounds.
• 2019-20 BIG EAST All-Freshman Team honoree Leilani Correa is having a great start to her sophomore year, averaging 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and three assists per game. She scored a career-high 35 points at Delaware on Dec. 10.
• The Golden Eagles have won the last five matchups and eight of nine in the series. SJU's last win was Feb. 15, 2019 at Carnesecca, defeating MU 81-74.

SENIORS LEAD THE WAY
• Departed seniors Isabelle Spingola (10.5 ppg.) and Altia Anderson (4.5 ppg., 6.5 reb.) are the only two regular contributors gone from a Golden Eagle team that went 24-8 (13-5 BIG EAST) in 2019-20.
• Seven of MU's top nine scorers are back this year, including seniors Selena Lott and Lauren Van Kleunen.
• All-BIG EAST Second Team honoree Selena Lott returns for her senior year after a breakout junior campaign saw her lead MU and finish eighth in the BIG EAST in scoring (15.5 ppg). She reached double figures 25 times and netted 20-or-more on five separate occasions.
• Redshirt senior Lauren Van Kleunen was last year's second-leading scorer at 11.9 ppg while coming down with 5.9 boards per night (second on the team).
• She played in a combined 68 games in her freshman and sophomore years, averaging 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds off the bench before getting her first opportunity as a full-time starter last year.
• LVK ranked fifth in the conference in field goal % (.513) and notched 21 double-figure scoring outings.

CAREER MILESTONE WATCH
• Selena Lott is 70 points away from hitting the 1,000-point mark for her career. Lauren Van Kleunen is 215 points away from hitting that threshold. They would be the 30th and 31st MU players to reach 1,000 career points.
• Selena Lott is a career 37.2% 3-point shooter, which ranks 7th all-time at MU. She's 16/32 (50%) from downtown this season.
• Lott is 24 steals away from a tie for 10th all-time in Golden Eagles history.

NEWCOMERS FINDING THEIR FOOTING
• Several of MU's newcomers have started to carve out roles for themselves in the rotation.
• Antwainette Walker, Liza Karlen and Julianna Okosun combined for 18 points, 14 rebounds and two assists in the Golden Eagles win over Providence (12/4).
• Walker and Karlen had eight points each on a combined 6/11 shooting. Karlen hit two big threes in the first half to help break the game open against the Friars. Walker had all eight of her points in half No. 2.
• Rose Nkumu netted her first collegiate basket against UND in the season opener.
• Liza Karlen scored a career-high nine points, all in the second half, to help MU rally back from a six-point deficit to defeat SJU at home on Wednesday.
• Karlen was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Dec. 28 after scoring a career-high 10 points to go along with five rebounds at Xavier (Dec. 22). It was her first career double figure scoring effort.

LVK ALL DAY
• The senior out of Mason, Ohio has had a very strong senior season. She ranks second on the team in points (13.6) and fourth in rebounds (4.9) while shooting 50% from the floor for the second straight year.
• 'Grandma,' as her teammates call her, had scored in double figures for 12 games in a row before being held to nine points at Xavier on Dec. 22.
• She's tallied 36 career double-figure scoring games and has led the team in scoring 10 times during her career.

HAVING A LOTT OF FUN
• Senior guard Selena Lott is coming off a breakout season that helped her garner significant preseason acknowledgement both around the conference and nationally.
• So far in 2020-21, Lott leads the team in scoring (17.1) and assists (4.1) while ranking third in rebounding (5.0). She ranks in the top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring, assists free throw % (.923) and 3FG made (2.4).
• The team's best all-around player, Lott has 39 double figure scoring games in her career. She notched her first career double-double in a win at Belmont (12/13) grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 18 points and five assists.
• With 930 career points, Lott is just 70 points away from becoming the 30th Golden Eagle to reach the 1,000-point threshold.
• Through seven games, Selena Lott is averaging 17.1 ppg. on 52% shooting from the field (40/76), 50% from 3-point range (16/32) and 92.3% from the free throw line (24/26). She's the only BIG EAST player to be in the 50/50/90 club in 2020-21.

CAMRYN TAYLOR HAVING STRONG SOPHOMORE SEASON
• The Peoria, Ill., native played in 31 games off the bench and finished fourth on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg.) on her way to BIG EAST All-Freshman Team honors.
• She notched 11 double figure scoring efforts in her first year in Blue & Gold. Taylor netted a career-high of 23 points in a road win over Seton Hall in January.
• Taylor is picking up where she left off this year, averaging 10.3 points and 7.1 rebounds (team-high).
• She netted a career-best 27 points against MKE after notching a double-double (17 pts/11 reb) at UND.
• Taylor was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Dec. 7 for her performance against MKE.

WHAT'S NEXT?
• MU's next game will be Wednesday, Jan. 20 against Georgetown at the Al McGuire Center. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. Central time on FloHoops.

Keep up with the Marquette women's basketball program through social media by following on Twitter (@MarquetteWBB) and Instagram (@marquettewbb) and `liking' on Facebook (/MarquetteWBB).

Players Mentioned

Altia Anderson

Liza Karlen

Selena Lott

Rose Nkumu

Julianna Okosun

Isabelle Spingola

Camryn Taylor

Lauren Van Kleunen

Antwainette Walker

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