Marquette women earn highest NCAA seed in program history
McKayla Yentz didn’t even bother to bring her phone out. Her family was stuck in Madison because of the massive snow storm, but she was with her second family: her team. And she didn’t want this memory marred by a failed attempt at capturing the moment on video.
Instead, the lone senior for the Marquette women's basketball team soaked it up and took in the scene when her Golden Eagles popped up on the huge TV screens during her first NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday at the Annex on campus.
The Golden Eagles (25-7) were placed in the Stockton Regional and will face Quinnipiac University in Coral Gables, Fla. at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2).
Marquette, which had an RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rating of 29, was awarded with a fifth seed, the highest in program history. It had never been higher than a sixth seed.
“I was expecting a No. 6 or a No. 7,” Marquette coach Carolyn Kieger said. “That says a lot about our body of work.
“We were 9-1 in our last ten 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.”
Marquette, which had already achieved several big goals this year - better defense, better passing, better chemistry - knew it was in the Big Dance, thanks to winning the Big East tournament championship at the Al McGuire Center last week.
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And yet these selection show moments are still so thrilling, especially when the whole team rallied for their highly-respected Yentz.
“It’s just very special to me,”Yentz said. “I had the goal to make it to the NCAA Tournament my senior year. I’m not going to forget this moment – ever.”
Now, it’s time to make some noise.
Quinnipiac (27-6), located in Connecticut, averages 68.2 points per game. Adily Martucci and Jen Fay lead the individual scorers with 10.6 and 10.2 points per game.
Led by sophomore forward Aryn McClure’s career-high 28 points, top seeded Quinnipiac defeated Rider in the MAAC tournament championship game to claim the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This is the Bobcats’ third appearance in to the NCAAs in the last five years.
Marquette was 16-3 at home this year, 9-3 on the road and 0-1 on a neutral site.
If Marquette (4-9 all time in the NCAA Tournament) advances to the second round, it might face the University of Miami (Fla.) – where Kieger spent six seasons as an assistant coach and another year as coordinator of basketball operations (2006) before coming back to Milwaukee three years ago.
“I know that sky’s the limit for our team, we can go really far this year,” MU guard Allazia Blockton said. “Hopefully we can do some damage and make our names known in the NCAA Tournament.”
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