I’m going to try something a little different and a little new here. As you’re probably aware of at this point, the coronavirus ended the Marquette women’s basketball season just a few days before Megan Duffy’s team was going to almost assuredly receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As such, we never got an official chance to bring the season to a conclusion.

We also lost every scheduled Marquette sporting event between now and August for sure, as the Big East and Marquette ended the rest of the spring seasons at the same time as the NCAA tournament was cancelled. So, as a result, we’ve got nothing but time to fill for a long time now. So, while I don’t normally do a big breakdown for women’s basketball, we’ve got the time to dive in and do that.

In the interests of not turning this into one 7,000 word article where I end up giving things less attention than I really could, I’m going to break things up into a few pieces. We’re going to give the seniors their own big farewell here, follow up with a look at the other three returners from the 2018-19 season, move on to a look at what the freshmen did in their first year at Marquette, and then wrap up with a big team overhead view.

So let’s jump in to today’s adventure, shall we?

Altia Anderson

Senior - #20 - Forward - 6’2” - Bridgeville, DE

*** - Denotes a top 500 national ranking per HerHoopStats.com

I don’t think we’ll ever be able to properly express how wonderful Altia Anderson’s senior season was relative to her first three years at Marquette.

Let’s try to do it through just math.

• First three years: 420 minutes played. Senior year: 668 minutes played.
• First three years: 61 shots attempted. Senior year: 198 shots attempted.
• First three years: 122 total rebounds. Senior year: 143 defensive rebounds, 209 total rebounds.
• First three years: 13 assists. Senior year: 41 assists.
• First three years: 23 blocks. Senior year: 49 blocks.
• First three years: 80 points, never more than 30 in any season. Senior year: 239 points, including a four game stretch in Big East play in January where she scored at least 10 points in each game.

Pretty great, huh? As Carolyn Kieger kept right on depending on her group of five star players that she recruited in her very first recruiting class, Anderson was relegated to an end of the bench role, and that’s if she got a chance to play. For whatever reason, Kieger just never saw a way to get her into the lineup for three seasons. Along comes Megan Duffy and a fresh start of Anderson, and she turned into an unholy terror for the Golden Eagles. #202 in the country per HHS in offensive rebounding rate, #109 on the defensive end, #84 overall, and #89 in the country in block rate. Duffy kept putting Anderson in situations that benefited the 6’2” Delaware native, and Anderson just kept on making good plays for the Golden Eagles over and over again.

Her post work, both high and low, was incredibly beneficial to what Marquette was doing, making her a vital cog on the court along with whichever other big from the group of Lauren Van Kleunen, Chloe Marotta, and Camryn Taylor that she was paired with. Anderson wasn’t keeping it simple, either. She was fearless on the court, and if you gave her a turnover and a bit of open court, she was taking off with it. It’s a Big East tournament highlight, but this block and transition layup is wonderfully exemplary of what Anderson did all year long for Marquette:

While I’m thrilled to see Anderson go out on a high note of a season, I’m almost more thrilled that I can be disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of her. I don’t mean in terms of making it to the NCAA tournament and playing at least one more game. Anderson averaged just under 21 minutes per game this season because Duffy was keeping the bigs rotating as the game would go on. She’d ride the hot hand if that’s what it came to, but everyone got a chance to play because fresh legs were important as well. So, while I get that it was the best tactical decision for the Golden Eagles in this particular season, I also get to be bummed that we didn’t get to see more of Anderson being ultra-successful when given a shot to contribute regularly.

Isabelle Spingola

Senior - #30 - Guard - 6’0” - Chicago, IL

*** - Denotes a top 500 national ranking per HerHoopStats.com

While 2019-20 was a breakthrough successful season for Altia Anderson to even the most casual observer of Marquette hoops, it was just as much of a positive experience for Isabelle Spingola. It’s just that the success doesn’t jump off the court in your brain as much as it did with Anderson. Spingola was earning regular rotation minutes for the Golden Eagles pretty much since day 1, going from 6.3 minutes per game in 27 appearances as a freshman to 14.7 minutes in 35 games as a junior. She was a regular contributor to what the Golden Eagles were doing, and the fact that she never shot below 37% from long range in any of her three seasons meant that defenses had to be aware of when she was subbing into the game and respect her out there on the arc.

This year, she played way more than twice as much as she did as a junior, and just kept right on doing Izzy things. She connected on 39% of her threes, tallying a career high number of attempts and eventually launching herself into fifth place all-time in program history for made triples. As you can see from her stat lines up above, she was one of the most productive shooters in the country this season, ranking #50 in makes and #70 in attempts. And to think that I thought that she should be shooting more, huh?

Spingola showed more than just her shooting this year. She was a productive rebounder from her wing position, and her ability to make defenders respect her drives by incorporating a deadly pull-up elbow jumper was important for what Marquette was doing as a whole. Still, perhaps the biggest thing for her this season in terms of contributions was just being an experienced senior to light the way for her six freshmen teammates. More than once this year we saw Spingola taking on the role of coach on the floor to corral a teammate after a mild mistake to encourage them, or to celebrate someone doing the right thing or being in the right place to make a play. When you need major contributions from multiple freshmen in order to have the success that Marquette did this year, then it’s the little things from the vets that make bigger impacts than you realize.

Like I mentioned at the top, we didn’t get a chance to officially close out the season since the logical and normal end to the year was yanked away by the COVID-19 shutdown. So, it’s very important that we wrap up this senior season review with a very big THANK YOU to Altia Anderson and Isabelle Spingola. They were a part of three teams that won three Big East titles (one tournament and two regular season), and that alone would be enough for neverending praise from Marquette fans everywhere. Yet, for me, the big memory from their tenure in Milwaukee is always going to be their senior season. Quite honestly, it had no business being as great as it was. Losing five 1,000 point scorers and the head coach is a huge hole to dig out of, and it was supposed to be a down year for Marquette. But because of the hard work and tenacity of the entire team, but especially MU’s two seniors, it wasn’t. In fact, it was one of the most successful and special seasons in program history instead, and we can never truly properly appreciate Anderson and Spingola for what they did every day in practice to make that happen. Thank you so much, and we here at Anonymous Eagle wish you the best in whatever’s next for you.