Marquette Women's Basketball Preview: vs Auburn

It's been nearly a week since Marquette women's basketball rebounded Wisconsin to death for their third win of the season.

The Golden Eagles have now won three of their last four games after opening the season with four straight losses.  Some of those losses were close, some of them were not. Marquette's most recent loss was at home to #7 Oregon State, and on that evening, MU had a 10 point lead in the third quarter before eventually falling to the Pac 12 favorites.

Now MU faces an Auburn team that has started out strong this season.  MU got romped by the Tigers down in Alabama last year, and given that AU returns most of that team, this presents an interesting test for Marquette.  It would show a lot of development by this heavily freshman laden team if they can pull off a win against an SEC team on the rise this season.

One of the signs of MU's growth this season may present itself in how Allazia Blockton plays. With a Big East Freshman of the Week award under her belt already this season, Blockton is going to be high on the scouting report that Auburn puts together.  If the Golden Eagles can get Blockton into situations to keep her performing up to the standards that she's set so far this season, then MU should be in pretty good shape to win this game.

Game #9: vs Auburn (6-1)

When: Sunday, December 13, 2015, at 1pm Central
Where: Al McGuire Center
Audio/Visual: TWC SportsChannel will have the broadcast in Milwaukee, plus there's live stats.
Special Promotions: It's Star Wars Day!  Wear your Star Wars gear & everyone will be entered to win prizes, including a Star Wars PS4!
Twitter Updates: @MarquetteWBB

Auburn returns all five starters from last season.  The downside to that news for the Tigers is that they went 13-18 a year ago.  That might be slightly less important than you'd think, as Auburn did pick up one of their 13 wins last season against Marquette by a final score of 79-53.

So far this season, Auburn has shown the benefit of all of that experience, opening up to a 6-1 start with the only loss coming at home against Virginia.  Four of their wins have come away from their home barn, including two nailbiter wins in the San Juan Shootout.  They're coming in on a four game winning streak, including an 83-69 win over East Carolina in their most recent outing which was head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy's 200th career win.

Four Tigers, including three of the starters, are averaging in the double digits in points this season.  Junior guard Brandy Montgomery leads the way for AU with 18.3 points per game.  Senior forward Tra`Cee Tanner is second on the team in scoring and leads the team in rebounding at just short of eight boards a game.  Four players average at least two assists per game, led by Khady Dieng at 2.7 per outing.