WBB Rings In The New Year At Xavier

MILWAUKEE - Looking to rebound, the Marquette women's basketball team will begin 2026 on New Year's Day with a trip to Xavier. It will be just the second time in the last 20 years that the Golden Eagles will play on Jan. 1.

Thursday's game will stream on ESPN+. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT at the Cintas Center.

THE STARTING FIVE

Coming off its first home loss of the season, Marquette faces Xavier on their road, a program that the Golden Eagles have not lost to since 2016. MU has won 18 straight games in the series.
In what was viewed as a weakness in Cara Consuegra's first year, the 3-ball has become a strength for the Golden Eagles in Year 2. MU sits third in the country at 39.4%. Half of the team's eight players who have attempted 10 or more this season are shooting above a 40% clip.
Halle Vice enter's Thursday's game coming off back-to-back double-double performances. The junior has posted four on the year with three of those coming in her last four outings.
With 27 straight games with the same starting lineup, Consuegra was forced to make her first change in over 11 months as Jaidynn Mason came down ill prior to Marquette's game against Truman State on Dec. 20. Mason returned to the starting lineup on Dec. 29.
Marquette's strength this season comes in its experience and continuity as the program is the only one in Division I women's college basketball to return all of its players from the 2024-25 season.

BY THE NUMBERS
5 - Through 13 games, Marquette has five games with double-digit made 3-pointers. In four of the previous five years, MU had just one or fewer such games. The 2023-24 season saw six.
8.7 - An emphasis during the offseason for Marquette was to increase its efficiency from outside. MU has seen an increase of 9% on its shooting 3, jumping to 39.4% and ranking No. 3 in the NCAA.
4 - Marquette was held below 70 points for the sixth time this season last time out. Four of the Golden Eagles' five losses have come when scoring less than 70 points.

FLASHING BACK - GAME 13 VS ST. JOHN'S

Marquette lost just its third game at the Al McGuire Center under Cara Consuegra (19-3).
Marquette dropped to 1-4 on the year when trailing at the half. MU was 6-0 this season prior to Monday's loss.
MU shot a season-low 50.0% from the free-throw line (4-of-8). The Golden Eagles were outscored at the line by 11.
MU made just six 3-pointers in the contest. Three of MU's five losses have coming when making six or fewer 3-pointers.
Halle Vice recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Skylar Forbes led Marquette in scoring for the seventh time this season, finishing with 16 points.
Jaidynn Mason posted her first double-figure game since Nov. 28, scoring 14 points.
Jordan Meulemans scored 11 points, her second game in double figures. Both have come in her last three appearances.

RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
Playing on New Year's Day has not been a typical occurence for Marquette. Since the start of the 20th Century, the Golden Eagles have played just twice on Jan. 1.

MU is 0-2 since 2000 on Jan. 1 with losses against Notre Dame (2004) and UConn (2025).

DOMINANCE AGAINST THE MUSKATEERS

Marquette and Xavier will meet for the 33rd time in their history.
MU holds the lead in the series at 25-7.
The first 14 games in the series were split at 7-7 before the Golden Eagles had won the last 18 in a row.

3-POINT EFFICIENCY INCREASE
Year 1 under Cara Consuegra saw the Golden Eagles struggle from outside, shooting just 30.7% which ranked 194th in the nation. During the offseason, changing that was a point of emphasis. Through nine games, Marquette is shooting 39.4%, an 8.7% increase, which ranks third in the NCAA.

Four Golden Eagles are shooting north of 40%. Jaidynn Mason is at 50.0% (9-of-18), Bridget Utberg is at 50.0% (10-of-20), Olivia Porter is at 45.8% (11-of-24) and Skylar Forbes is at 40.5% (30-of-74).
The increased efficiency from beyond the arc has also resulted in more 3-pointers per game as MU is averaging 8.6 per game, an increase of 3.4 from last season.

MAKE 'EM COUNT
The charity stripe this season has been just that--charity for Marquette--as the team is shooting 78.0%, the 18th-highest mark in the NCAA this year. MU has shot 80% or better six times this season.

On Dec. 20, the Golden Eagles went 14-of-14 from the line. It was the first time MU has shot 100% from the line with more than 10 attempts since Feb. 25, 2012.
Fifty-five of the team's 164 attempts have come from Lee Volker (27-of-30) and Jaidynn Mason (22-of-25).

DIVERSIFYING THE OPTIONS
While Skylar Forbes is the Golden Eagles' top scorer at 16.7 points per game, three others have shown that they too can carry the scoring load. Two of MU's other starters--Halle Vice, Lee Volker--are also averaging double figures.

Along with Jaidynn Mason who is averaging 9.9 points per game, each of the four have led Marquette in scoring this season and all four have each posted at least one 20-point game.

SHARING THE ROCK
With an uptick in scoring in recent weeks, part of that can be attributed to Marquette's ball movement. MU recorded its fourth, fifth and sixth games this year with 20 or more assists this month. The Golden Eagles sit 16th in the NCAA in assists per game at 19.5.

Of the teams ranked in the Top 20 in assists per game, Marquette is one of four that does not have a player averaging at least 4.0 per game, joining Iowa, LSU and Villanova. MU has five players averaging between 2.1-3.9 assists per game.

MY TEAM IS ON THE COURT
When it comes to coaches tinkering with starting lineups, Head Coach Cara Consuegra isn't one of them. Last season, Consuegra found what worked for Marquette during conference play and has stuck with it ever since. Until Jaidynn Mason missed the game versus Truman State due to an illness, MU had trotted out the same starting five in 27 straight games. That stretch went from Jan. 14, 2025-Dec. 17, 2025.