WBB Heads To Fort Myers For Coconut Hoops

MILWAUKEE – With the snow heading into the upper Midwest, the Marquette women’s basketball team heads south to Fort Myers, Florida during Feast Week for the GEICO Coconut Hoops held at FGCU’s Alico Arena.

The Golden Eagles face #10/12 Iowa State on Friday morning in their first of two games in Florida. Sunday’s contest will be against either Gonzaga or Indiana.

All games will stream on FloCollege.

THE STARTING FIVE

• Marquette is coming off its second 30+ point win of the season after defeating Milwaukee 75-43 on Nov. 19.
• The win was the 250th for Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra. Consuegra earned 225 of those wins previously at Charlotte (13 seasons) before earning the last 25 at Marquette after taking over last year.
• With more depth in 2025-26, the Golden Eagles’ strength still lies within their starting five which has not changed through the opening five games. The group is accounting for 81.6% of the team’s scoring thus far. Three of MU’s starters have already posted 20-point games with a fourth hitting 19 points twice.
• This year’s trip to Fort Myers will be Marquette’s second in the last three seasons. Two years ago, the Golden Eagles went 2-0 at the Fort Myers Tip-Off during Thanksgiving Week.
• Marquette’s strength this season comes in its experience and continuity as the program is the only one in Division I women’s college basketball to return all of its players from the 2024-25 season.

BY THE NUMBERS
748 – It has been 748 days since Marquette last played a nonconference opponent which was ranked in the AP Top 25. On Nov. 11, 2023, MU defeated No. 23 Illinois 71-67.
2 – While Marquette and Iowa State have met just five times in their history, MU has won the last two meetings (2003 & 2006).
11.8 – In Marquette’s four wins, the Golden Eagles have outscored each of their opponents in the second half. The result has been a +11.8 scoring difference for MU in those four second halves.

BACK AGAIN SO SOON
For the second time in the last three years, Marquette will spend Thanksgiving in Fort Myers. In 2023, the Golden Eagles went 2-0 in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, picking up wins over Boston College (73-65) and Arkansas (74-58).

GOLDEN EAGLES IN MTEs
Multi-Team Events (MTE) have been a mainstay on Marquette’s schedule for years and the Golden Eagles have typically fared well in them. The Golden Eagles have won two games in four of its last five MTEs.

• MU has not left a MTE without a win since the IU Full-O-Pep Classic in December of 1995. The Golden Eagles have played in 27 MTEs since 1995.

REACHING 250
On Nov. 19 at Milwaukee, Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra earned the 250th win of her head coaching career. Consuegra came to Marquette with 225 wins in 13 seasons at Charlotte. With 21 last year, she needed just four this season, reaching that mark in the first five games of the season.

ONE OF ONE
Not just a shot blocker, not just a 3-point shooter, Skylar Forbes is proving early this season that she is both. Forbes is currently shooting 41.7% from deep while also posting 2.2 blocks per game.

• Forbes is the only player in the country currently averaging 2.0 blocks per game and shooting over 40% from 3 (min. 10 attempts).

USING HER LENGTH
While not a prototypical post, 6-foot-3 Skylar Forbes uses her length well on the defensive end. After breaking the Marquette record for blocks in a season last year with 56, the junior hasn’t slowed up. Adding 11 more to total this season, she is up to 99 for her career.

• Forbes sits seventh on MU’s all-time blocks list, and is just two back of tying Heidi Ach for sixth.
• Forbes’ 2.2 blocks per game this season ranks No. 2 in the Big East and 24th in the NCAA.

HEATING UP
Slow to start this season, Lee Volker has begun to hit her stride through two weeks. With just 19 points during the opening week of play the 6-foot-1 guard combined for 36 last week, including a season-high 23 points last Friday against Bowling Green. Volker was 9-of-14 against the Falcons. The 64.3% shooting performance was a near 30% jump from her previous high this year. Though it dipped back to 44.4% at Milwaukee, Volker supplemented her work by grabbing 10 rebounds to record the second double-double of career (14 points, 10 rebounds).

• Volker has 10 made 3-pointers on the season with six of those coming in two games during the second week of the season. She added two more at Milwaukee on 2-on-4 shooting as her percentage continues to rise.

VICE GRIP
Marquette’s top rebounder a season ago, preseason All-BIG EAST selection Halle Vice has showed no let up on the glass through five games this year. The junior’s 8.4 rebounds per game currently ranks second the BIG EAST.

• Vice had double-digit rebounding numbers in her first two outings and missed the mark by just one in her third.

MADE IT LOOK EASY
Marquette’s third 20-point game this season came Halle Vice at Milwaukee. The junior has been close this season but against the Panthers the 6-foot-1 guard made the 20-point game look easy, shooting an efficient 9-of-11 from the field. Not everything was from inside though, Vice was 3-of-4 from deep.

• The 23 points and three made 3-pointers were both career highs for Vice.

THE X-FACTOR
While Skylar Forbes, Halle Vice and Lee Volker were the All-BIG EAST preseason selections, Marquette coaches have all said that senior point guard Jaidynn Mason is the X-factor. While the season is still young, Mason has already shown why coaches have put that moniker on her. In the season opener she dropped 25 points against Winthrop. In Game 2 against Wisconsin, she ignited a 10-0 run in the final three minutes with two blocks and a steal on three consecutive defensive possessions.

• Mason leads the team in assists (4.2), steals (2.6) and free-throw percentage (90.0%).

WATCH YOURSELF INSIDE
With length and high IQs on an experienced squad, Marquette has made a habit of getting their hands on opponents’ shots this year. MU leads the BIG EAST and ranks No. 17 nationally this season.

• Skylar Forbes may pace the team with 2.2 per game but there is balance with point guard Jaidynn Mason at 1.0 per game and three others at 0.6 per outing.

GET TO THE LINE
In each of the Golden Eagles’ first two games, MU attempted at least 18 free throws. At Minnesota, they attempted just three. The charity stripe has been just that–charity for Marquette–as the team is shooting 79.1%, the 24th-highest mark in the NCAA this year.

• Thirty-two of the team’s 67 attempts have come from Lee Volker (11-of-12) and Jaidynn Mason (18-of-20).

THEY’RE ALL BACK…WITH ADDITIONS
With fifth years awarded to Abbey Cracknell and Lee Volker, Marquette heads into the 2025-26 season as the only Division I women’s basketball team to return every player from its 2024-25 roster.

• Of the returners, two are fifth years, six are seniors and five are juniors.
• Additionally, MU added three players in transfer Jordan Muelemens and freshmen JJ Barnes and Kam Herring.

ONE OF THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY
On Oct. 30, Marquette’s Skylar Forbes was selected to the 2025-26 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List, presented by AXIA Time. The 6-foot-3 junior forward was one of 50 student-athletes named to the watch list.

• Of the 50 players on the watch list, Forbes is just one of five from outside the Power 4.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.