Girls basketball: Lilly Craig, veterans lead very young Marquette club

While the Marquette girls basketball team will be incredibly young this winter, there are enough pillars around which to build to make the youngsters competitive from Day 1 forward.

Ten members of the 16-player team are freshmen who will learning on the job, but those lessons will be taught by quality returnees, including 5-foot-9 senior forward Lilly Craig.

The quiet and demure Craig, who posted 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year, was a unanimous All-Tri-County Conference first-team pick, a Times All-Area second-teamer and an all-tournament choice at the Lady Falcon/Irish Tournament and the St. Bede Lady Bruins Christmas Classic.

The four-year MA starter will begin the year with a milestone looming. She is only nine points away from 1,000 for her career. She should be able to reach that at the Integrated Seeds Tourney against host Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland on Monday.

“Considering she only played eight games her freshman year because of COVID, that’s impressive. It’ll be a real good milestone for her,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “She’s our only senior, and she took on a good leadership role throughout the summer and the first few practices. … She’s gotten quite a bit stronger physically, and that will help her in rebounding and on defense. We may be able to have her cover the other team’s best scorer, where in years past, we didn’t have the depth to do that. It gives us more options, more flexibility.

“It’s great to have a quality scorer like her to build around. I’m expecting big things from her this year. There will be a lot expected of her this year, but she’s up for the occasion.”

But Craig won’t be doing it alone by any stretch, as also returning are three starters from last year’s 17-17 team that went 7-5 in the Tri-County.

Junior post Avery Durdan was a TCC third-team pick after averaging 8.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

She’s joined by junior guard Chloe Larsen, who averaged 8.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2 assists. Also back are juniors Keely Nelson and Morgan Nelson.

And then there are the youngsters, starting with the lone sophomore, Madison Kozlowski.

Hunter Hopkins, who is as a pure a point guard as they come, gives the team something it hasn’t had since Josie Eager graduated two years ago, and Katelyn Davis, another solid ball handler with AAU-tested varsity-level shooting skills, should see plenty of time right off the bat.

Also jumping right into the fray will be Anna Hjerpe, fresh off a solid varsity volleyball season, and forward Kelsey Cuchra.

Taylor Gamons, Bobbi Snook, Emily Ryan-Adair, Gwen Jimenez, Madisyn Trainor and Nevaeh Corcoran will work their way onto the floor as situations dictate. Price has been impressed by how quickly the girls picked things up and dedicated themselves to work in the weight room.

“It’s a good returning group,” Price said. “And though we only have one sophomore out, we have a very strong freshman class that had a lot of success as eighth graders. Some of them are going to see good varsity minutes from the get-go.

“For the first time since I’ve been here, I think the greatest strength of this team will be ballhandling and shooting. That’s a good combination, right? Last year, it was kind of point guard by committee. Now I can see two, three, even four girls who can handle that role and excel at it.”

Being guard heavy should lead to an up-tempo running game, if the Crusaders can hold their own on the defensive boards. That said, Price feels it can compete night in and night out in a balanced Tri-County Conference.

“The last couple of years, the conference has gone through Seneca and I imagine they’ll be pretty decent again this year,” he said. “Roanoke has a couple of solid girls back and St. Bede comes in this year. … I think we can be competitive in it, but until somebody dethrones Seneca, it’s their thing.”