In the 2003 men's NCAA Tournament, the Marquette Golden Eagles played giant killer, defeating top-seeded Kentucky to advance to the Final Four.
The ninth-seeded women's team will hope to make headlines as the spoiler in this year's tournament when it takes on No. 1 Duke (28-3) at 7 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Marquette (22-9), which is only 2-6 lifetime in the tournament, will have its hands full against a Blue Devils team that has won 11 straight NCAA games in Durham.
"To begin the tournament, it's always nice to shoot the ball well, and you tend to do that a little bit more when you're comfortable and when you're at home," Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors said.
"Essentially with the first two teams that we play playing zone [defense], you want to be able to hit your outside shot. I think most teams tend to shoot better from outside when they're at home. I think that's been good for us."
The Blue Devils are coming off a 103-51 drubbing of 16th seed Northwestern State Sunday, marking the fifth time this season that they have topped the century mark. Sophomore Jessica Foley scored a career-high 18 points against the Lady Demons, while Monique Currie, Iciss Tillis, Mistie Bass and Vicki Krapohl also reach double-digits in the scoring column. National Player of the Year candidate Alana Beard had a quiet night on offense with just eight points, but she did chip in with a team-high nine assists.
However, Goestenkors knows that her team may be in for a more competitive contest tonight.
"I think we've learned to play well in tight situations," she said. "But certainly I think that because we had a blowout [against Northwestern State], we're not going to get away with some of the things we were able to get away with in [Sunday's] game." The Golden Eagles advanced to the second round for the first time since 1997 after squeaking by No. 8 Old Dominion 67-64 in Sunday's opening round. They were led by a career-high 24 points from freshman Christina Quaye, who is third on her team in scoring with 8.9 points per game. Marquette's other main offensive weapons are guard Kelly Schwerman and forward Carolyn Kieiger, who average 11.8 and 10.4 points, respectively. Marquette's main strength, though, is on the defensive end. Its scoring defense is ranked 24th in the nation, giving up only 57.2 points per game. Duke, though, has the third best offense in the nation and should test the Golden Eagles' prowess. "[Duke is] scoring 82 points a game for a reason," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "They are explosive, and their transition is amazing. We will make that our first and foremost focus. If we can just make them work for every point, then, hopefully, offensively we can do some attacking ourselves. We know the task is huge, but we have a little bit of momentum going into this game and hopefully a confident bunch will step onto the court." The Blue Devils, led by point guard Lindsey Harding, will try to use their team speed to counter the Golden Eagles' stingy zone defense. "I like to push it up the floor anyway, so that would be my goal," Harding said. "After a score or after a miss, [we need to] get the ball from the post and push it up the floor until they stop. Then we move into our secondary fast break." The winner of tonight's contest will advance to the Mideast Regionals in Norfolk, Va. to face fifth-seeded Louisiana Tech, who downed No. 4 Texas Tech.
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