The Marquette women's basketball team has enjoyed a rapid improvement during Carolyn Kieger's three seasons at the helm.
After posting just nine wins in Kieger's first year as coach in 2014-15, the Golden Eagles eclipsed that total by 16 this season - highlighted by their eighth straight victory in an 86-78 triumph over top-seeded DePaul in the Big East tournament final.
Marquette (25-7), which earned a program-best fifth seed, will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 on Saturday afternoon when it faces 12th-seeded Quinnipiac (27-6) in an opening-round game in the Stockton Regional at Coral Gables, Fla.
"I was expecting a No. 6 or a No. 7 (seed)," Kieger told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "That says a lot about our body of work.
"We were 9-1 in our last 10 games. That's huge that they were able to look at that. We beat Oregon State on their home floor, and had three huge wins against DePaul and we were 6-0 against Top 25 teams. The fact that the committee saw that and rewarded it is a blessing right now."
Natisha Hiedeman doubled her season average (13.9 points) by scoring 28 in the Big East title game and tied a campaign-best performance with six 3-pointers. Fellow guard Allazia Blockton (team-best 17.2 points, 6.0 rebounds) leads a balanced attack with four players scoring in double figures while Amani Wilborn (9.9), who fell just shy of that mark, celebrated her 20th birthday by pouring in 20 off the bench.
"I know that sky's the limit for our team, we can go really far this year," Blockton told the newspaper. "Hopefully we can do some damage and make our names known in the NCAA Tournament."
Sophomore forward Aryn McClure made quite a name for herself in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship game, recording a career-high 28 points in Quinnipiac's 81-73 victory over Ryder last week.
Winners of 10 in a row, the Bobcats are advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in five years. Quinnipiac was drilled in both of its previous appearances, losing 72-52 to Maryland in 2013 and 111-84 to Oklahoma two years later.
Guard Adily Martucci, who was named the MAAC tournament MVP, leads the team with 10.6 points while sophomore forward Jen Fay (10.2) are the lone members to average in double digits.
Optimism is at a high at the Hamden (Conn.) campus, however, and the Bobcats are feeling confident heading into Saturday's tilt.
"We felt good coming out of the MAAC tournament but we had those couple of days of practice where we had time to refocus," junior guard Carly Fabbri, daughter of head coach Tricia Fabbri, told the Hartford Courant. "We're trying to make history and I think with this kind of a matchup I think we're going to be able to pull it off."
The elder Fabbri, however, is well aware of what Marquette brings to the table.
"I've seen (the Golden Eagles) in the championship game and watched another game in the middle of the year," Fabbri told the newspaper. "They play great defense, too and good fundamental basketball."
