Marquette Captures Women's Basketball Championship

CHICAGO - With an 82-70 victory over Saint Louis on Sunday, the Marquette Golden Eagles have captured their first outright Conference USA regular season championship. Sunday's win, Marquette's season-high eighth in a row, guarantees the Golden Eagles of the No. 1 seed at the Jewish Hospital Conference USA Conference USA Tournament in Louisville, March 3-6.

On senior day at the Milwaukee Arena, a crowd of 3,220 (third-largest in MU annals) was on hand to honor one of the most successful Marquette squads in school history. The team's three 1,000-point scorers did their part to lead the Golden Eagles to their 22nd regular season victory against just four defeats. Center Abbie Willenborg and forward Lisa Oldenburg each registered double-doubles, with Willenborg scoring 24 and pulling down 16 boards, while Oldenburg netted 19 points and grabbed 10 caroms. The other member of MU's Grand Club, forward Kiesha Oliver, added 16 points.

Marquette (14-1, 22-4) will close out the regular season on Saturday at DePaul in a game that will be nationally-televised by Fox Sports Net at 11:00 a.m. CST. A victory will give the Golden Eagles the best conference record in C-USA history as well as a new school record for victories in a season.

Also over the weekend, Tulane (12-3, 23-3) captured the National Division title with a win at Memphis and will also receive a first round bye at the conference tournament. The other two first round byes, which go to the teams with the next-best league records, remain up for grabs entering the final week of regular season action. Memphis (9-5, 15-10) has a half a game lead over DePaul (9-6, 16-10), Louisville (9-6, 16-10) and Southern Miss (9-6, 15-11), with Cincinnati (8-7, 14-11) also in the picture.

The 2000 Jewish Hospital Conference USA Women's Basketball Tournament will take place from March 3-6 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. For ticket information, please contact your local Conference USA school's ticket office.