Basketball is a team sport.
On defense, the five players on the court are all trying to limit the opponent’s scoring opportunities. On offense, they are passing the ball around, trying to find that perfect shot.
One of the ways Marquette women’s basketball (6-3, 2-0 Big East) was able to dominantly defeat Butler on Sunday, 80-55, and remain undefeated in conference play, was due to its ability to spread the ball around and make the open shots fall. The Golden Eagles finished the game beating the Bulldogs in the assist battle, 26-17, beating their team average of 17.9 per game in the process.
Spurring Marquette was once again senior guard Jaidynn Mason, who tied her season-high with a team-most seven assists, which also matched the number of points she put up. It was the fourth game this year she led the Golden Eagles in dishes.
“She plays super fast,” junior forward Skylar Forbes said. “She’s our heart and soul on defense in transition; she keeps the pace high. And given that, being able to still slow down and be able to find us and make the right read. I mean, it’s been awesome to play with her.”
The Mason-to-Forbes connection enabled Forbes to lead the team with 26 points, which simultaneously marked a new season-high.
The Kansas City, Mo., native ranks fifth in the Big East with an average of 3.8 assists per game, but Sunday she proved she is more than capable of increasing that average. She also leads the Golden Eagles with 41 assists so far this season.
“She can be a true playmaker,” Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra said, “which is, ultimately, what she’s best at.”
On Sunday, her in a “true playmaker” role began with the Golden Eagles’ very first basket, when Mason passed the ball to Halle Vice, who scored a driving layup to take a 2-0 lead. She started the second half the same way as well, with a pass to Vice who got the layup.
Now in her second season with the Golden Eagles, Mason has improved in her playmaking abilities.
In 2024-25, she averaged 2.8 assists per game and ended the season with 64 total. Now, only in December with a majority of the season left to play, Mason is already more than halfway to reaching a new season-total high with 34, an average of 7.78 per game. She has finished with multiple assists in seven of the Golden Eagles’ nine games, and she has ended every game with at least one.
Being able to spread the ball around continuously, making sure her team has the opportunity to score has not only made her a better competitor, but her team more efficient.
“Last year, she would just play so fast and not really think about what was always the best play,” Consuegra said. “Now, she’s been able to slow down a little bit, still take advantage of her speed, but she’s thinking the game so much better because of the pace that she’s playing at.”
This new version of Mason was on display from the jump, when she tied for a team-most five assists in the Golden Eagles’ season-opening 89-57 win over Winthrop. She then led Marquette with seven against Bowling Green and followed that up with six at Milwaukee. And on Sunday, she dished another seven.
Mason now has a week off for finals week before she will continue to swing the rock in the Golden Eagles’ matchup against Le Moyne on Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. CST at the Al McGuire Center.
“It’s been a tough schedule, and our kids have been going hard,” Consuegra said. “We’ve had injury issues, so our depth hasn’t been there, and so our starters have played a lot of minutes. So I think this is a great opportunity for us to just focus on school, focus on ourselves and keep getting better.”
This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at raquel.ruiz@marquette.edu.