There's still Basketball. Women vs Marquette at Noon Sunday

The Lady Hokies also made it to the big dance this year for the first time since 2006. The 7th seed Hokies play the 10th seed Marquette Golden Eagles who finished second in the Big East to UConn. This is the fourth straight NCAA appearance for Marquette.

The game will be played in San Antonio, where all the tourney games will be played. Tip is at noon on Sunday on ESPNU with Brenda van Lengen doing the play by play and Sam Revich as analyst.

Marquette is 19-6 overall, 14-4 in the Big East. They were 6-3 at home and 11-2 away and 2-1 in the three games at neutral sites. Three of their losses were to UConn.

The Hokies will match up well against their roster.

They have used the same five starters every game this season and really don't have a player that will match up well with Kitley. They go about 8 deep with players playing 10 or more minutes per game; but the starters average 25-35 min/game. Amoore will be challenged to guard any of the starters; the shortest starter is 5'11".

The Starters:

24 Selena Lott 5'11 Sr. Guard
34.4 MIN/G 14.6 PPG 5.3 RPG
1.9 PF 5.2 Assists 2.6 TO 2 A/TO

42 Lauren Van Kleunen 6'2 R-Sr. Forward
28.3 MIN/G 13 PPG 5.8 RPG
1.4 PF 1.8 Assists 2.2 TO 0.8 A/TO

15 Camryn Taylor 6'2 So. Forward
24.7 MIN/G 11.8 PPG 7.1 RPG
3.2 PF 1.7 Assists 2 TO 0.9 A/TO

23 Jordan King 5'11 So. Guard
31.7 MIN/G 9 PPG 4.1 RPG
1.7 PF 4 Assists 2.5 TO 1.6 A/TO

52 Chloe Marotta 6'1 Jr. Forward
25.6 MIN/G 7 PPG 6.2 RPG
2.1 PF 2.6 Assists 2 TO 1.3 A/TO

The Substitutes:

5 Taylor Valladay 5'7 So. Guard
19.8 MIN/G 5.4 PPG 1.8 RPG
1.5 PF 1.8 Assists 1.5 TO 1.2 A/TO

32 Liza Karlen 6'2 Fr. Forward
11.4 MIN/G 4.2 PPG 3.3 RPG
1 PF 0.5 Assists 0.7 TO 0.7 A/TO

10 Claire Kaifes 5'11 So. Guard
15.4 MIN/G 3.4 PPG 1.6 RPG
0.8 PF 1.1 Assists 0.7 TO 1.6 A/TO

Stats:

The team shoots 45.9% overall; but only 32% from three. the two guards shoot most of the threes; but the forward shoot a higher percentage from three. Taylor very rarely shoots from beyond the arc. Marquette averages 70.8 ppg; the Hokies average 71.3. Marquette holds their opponents to 61.4 ppg; the Hokies allow 67.5 ppg. Marquette stats look a little better; but they don't play ACC competition. When you add that factor, I think we can say the Hokies look a little better.

Marquettes best rebounder averages 7.1 rebounds per game; no one averages a block per game. They don't have anyone that can match Kitley on the boards or on defense.

Per game averages:

If both Kitley and Sheppard have decent games, the Hokies should do well against Marquette. The little bit of play that I saw, Marquette scored on a lot of dribble drives. If they try that against Kitley, she should get a lot of blocks. In their last two games against Creighton in the semi finals of the Big East tournament and against UConn in the finals, they only scored 3 and 2 three point goals. Against UConn, they only scored 39 points. For comparison, we scored 67 against Louisville in a loss and 87 in a 2 pt loss to NC State and 83 in our win against NC State.

We should do well in this game. The only caveat would be that, if the pressure of the big game affects our performance, we could be a little loose with the ball. I am also concerned about our shooting. Pressure can make those perfect shots slide just a little bit off line and bounce out instead of swishing through. Marquette has been here before and we have not. Does that matter? I hope not.

Another concern is Sheppard's health. She played in the last game; but she clearly was not 100%. She has had time to heal; I hope she is ready to go. If this team plays up to its potential, we could make a deep run in the tourney.

Go Hokies!