March isn’t quite over for the Golden Eagles.
Marquette women’s basketball (21-10) aims for its second postseason victory under head coach Cara Consuegra against James Madison (29-5) in Harrisonburg, Virginia on Sunday morning.
The last time the Golden Eagles saw the Dukes was back in the 1994-95 season.
Marquette coming off win against Drake
Consuegra returned to the state where she used to play ball in college, coming away with a 74-69 win at Drake.
After facing a 10-point deficit at halftime, the Golden Eagles found what they needed to allow for the shots to fall in crucial moments, causing them to only be down by one heading into the final frame.
Junior guard Jaidynn Mason – who added 16 points and six assists – put up the shot that snowballed into a 5-0 MU scoring run that would finish off the game.
“I’ve been saying it all year…Jaidynn Mason is our X-factor,” Consuegra told Larry Morgan in a post-game interview. “I thought we came out and competed our tails off in the second half.”
Playing with H.E.A.R.T – Heart, Effort, Accountability, Respect and Toughness – has been Consuegra’s motto all year, and players across the roster have shared multiple pieces of the pie both on Thursday, and throughout their season.
What to know about James Madison
The Dukes rank top 10 nationally in four categories: defensive rebounds per game (4th – 30.6), 3-point percentage (5th – 26.1), rebounds per game (7th – 43.03) and field goal percentage defense (8th – 35.8), and have been a No. 1 seed in the WNIT the last two seasons.
Coming off a first-round victory against Davidson, four players scored in double figures, with redshirt senior center Kseniia Kozlova recording her eighth double-double of the season.
Davidson jumped out to an early 5-0 start Thursday against the Dukes. But James Madison locked in from there and dominated the rest of the game. JMU outscored Davidson 28-9 in the final 10 minutes for its largest scoring fourth quarter of the season.
How to follow
Watch: Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Live updates: Follow @MullinMax and @MUWireSports on Twitter/X for game updates.
This story was written by Raquel Ruiz. She can be reached at raquel.ruiz@marquette.edu or @RaquelRuizMU on Twitter/X.