WBB Travels to Orlando Thursday for Season Opener at UCF

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University women's basketball team opens its 50th season of competition on Thursday, Nov. 7 at UCF in Orlando at Addition Financial Arena.

The Thursday night contest will tip at 6 p.m. CT and air on ESPN+. Live stats will be accessible at GoKnights.com.

The Cara Consuegra era begins Thursday. Consuegra, who was an assistant at MU from 2004-11, returns to Milwaukee as head coach of the Golden Eagles after a 13-year tenure as head coach at Charlotte.

Marquette returns five letterwinners from last year's squad and added six newcomers via the transfer portal. Skylar Forbes is the team's leading returner at 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Lee Volker leads the team with 71 career games played after playing in all 32 contest last season.

Consuegra is 11-2 in season openers as a head coach, including winning her first nine at Charlotte.

Following Thursday's game, the Golden Eagles continue their season-opening two-game road trip at Illinois on Sunday, Nov. 7.

CONSUEGRA RETURNS TO MU
• Cara Consuegra was named the seventh women's basketball head coach at Marquette University on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
• Consuegra was 225-169 in 13 seasons at Charlotte with seven postseason appearances, including an NCAA tournament berth in 2022.
• She became Charlotte's all-time wins leader at the beginning of a 2021-22 campaign in which she was named Conference USA Coach of the Year.
• That season, she guided the 49ers to a 22-10 overall record and 15-3 mark in league play, winning the regular season and conference tournament title.
• It was the first NCAA tournament bid for Charlotte since the 2008-09 season and third in program history.
• Consuegra was an assistant under Terri Mitchell at Marquette for seven seasons from 2004-11.
• She helped lead the Golden Eagles to 145 wins and seven trips to the postseason, including two NCAA tournament appearances and a WNIT Championship in 2008.

BUILDING, NOT REBUILDING
• The Golden Eagles added six transfers during the offseason to pair with the six returners.
• Olivia Porter followed her head coach from Charlotte to Milwaukee and started in every game last season for the 49ers.
• Aryelle Stevens, a former Charlotte signee, was teammates with current Golden Eagle Abbey Cracknell at Gulf Coast State College in 2022-23.
• Jaidynn Mason averaged 14.0 points per game as a sophomore at Southern Illinois in 2023-24.
• Jada Bediako, who has experience with Team Canada, spent her freshman season at Georgia Tech.
• Kennedi Perkins played in 52 games for Syracuse with four starts.
• Ayuen Akot started in 52-of-54 games at Frank Phillips College in Texas

FORBES READY FOR INCREASED ROLE
• Skylar Forbes appeared in all 32 games last season with four starts, all coming in conference games.
• Playing behind all-conference performer Liza Karlen, Forbes played limited minutes but shot 47 percent from the floor and had 5+ rebounds in 11 games.
• The sophomore had 12 points and nine rebounds in the close win over Villanova in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST tournament.

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