The Marquette women’s basketball team scrambled to piece together a non-conference schedule after Cara Consuegra was hired as coach in April.
So, in a quirk of that process, the Golden Eagles played two road games and then had eight days off before making their home debut on Monday at the Al McGuire Center.
MU rolled to an easy 92-37 victory over NCAA Division II Illinois-Springfield thanks to a breakout performance from Skylar Forbes and a raucous crowd of Milwaukee Public School kids.
Here are four few takeaways:
Cara Consuegra wins in home debut
Consuegra was a MU assistant from 2004-11 before becoming head coach at Charlotte, so it was special to get her first win with the Golden Eagles at the Al McGuire Center.
While the players engulfed her at halfcourt after the game, the experience was more special for Consuegra before the game.
“Just the feeling of walking out to a familiar place,” Consuegra said. “The place is packed. It was very emotional.
“It was really hard for me to keep my composure. Just to be back at a place that I always would have loved to come back to.”
Golden Eagles get off to fast start and kept going
The game was never in doubt after MU opened on a 21-2 run. The Golden Eagles finished strong with 23 unanswered points.
“I challenged our kids in the third quarter,” Consuegra said. “I thought we kind of let up a little bit and got a little complacent.
“That was obviously (Illinois-Springfield’s) best quarter, and I challenged them that ultimately this is about us and our journey and where we’re trying to go and who we’re trying to be. The score is just data for us at this point. I thought they responded really well to that.”
Skylar Forbes has big game down low
Over the summer and preseason, it was easy to see that 6-foot-3 Skylar Forbes was poised for a breakthrough season.
She averaged 8.5 points per game over MU’s season-opening losses at Central Florida and Illinois, but she really broke loose against Illinois-Springfield with 14 points and eight rebounds.
“Coach really instills in us just doing what our role is,” Forbes said. “For me, my role is to be a playmaker and score. And I have incredible teammates who can help me get that ball.”
Consuegra doesn’t want to place too many expectations on Forbes this early in the season, especially after she played a small role last season.
“She hasn’t played a ton of meaningful basketball here,” Consuegra said. “And so that’s hard when you take a kid who is just a sophomore and put all these expectations on her. And her second game of her sophomore year we’re playing the 23rd-ranked team in the country (Illinois).
“So I think, for some it, we have to temper our expectations and allow her the grace and the time to get into her role.”
MPS students really bring the noise
The Golden Eagles’ annual afternoon game with MPS students in the crowd always challenges the eardrums of anyone in attendance.
Springfield-Illinois wasn’t quite ready for the onslaught of high-pitched screams, particulary when the Prairie Stars were shooting free throws. They finished 5 for 9 from the line.
“I think it’s fun,” Forbes said. “It can be a little distracting at times, but those kids that are there, we love them and we hope we can make the impact on them that anyone can.
“I think it was really fun. I’m a really big fan of the kids’ games, for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cara Consuegra gets first win as Marquette women’s basketball coach
