HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall women’s basketball team hopes to end its season with a win, hosting the WNIT Championship at the Cam Henderson Center at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The Herd takes on Illinois State after defeating Sun Belt Conference rival Arkansas State in the semifinals, and, with Saturday being her team’s fourth game in eight days, head coach Juli Fulks likes her team’s mentality.
“They have been great in their preparation. We have had fantastic practices. This tournament, obviously, requires you to turn it around quickly in this week with playing Friday-Monday-Wednesday,” she said Friday on MetroNews Talkline.
Illinois State enters with a record of 24-13, coming off of WNIT wins against UTGRV, Abilene Christian, George Washington, and South Dakota. Sophomore forward Doneelah Washington averages 17.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game to lead the third-best offense in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“We’re going to need to do a really good job of pressuring the basketball and making sure that we push their post players off the block and create a lot of extra possessions for us off of turnovers,” Fulks said.
“Jam The Cam” is the call from Marshall athletics ahead of the game, encouraging Thundering Herd fans to turn out in droves for the championship game. Fulks expects a raucous environment and hopes that every seat is full at tipoff.
“The last game, we just had a tremendous crowd and it rides on that energy,” she said.
Marshall announced Friday afternoon the game is sold out.
Hosting the final game means that Herd players can go through their normal gameday routines with the afternoon start allowing for extra rest. Fulks plans to keep her team prepared but energized throughout the day.
“We don’t want them to be overly hyped early. There’s only so much emotional and physical energy left in the tanks right now, so tomorrow, actually, the shootaround is pretty purposeful. It’s not high energy. Let’s just walk through it,” she said.
After bowing out of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Marshall did not allow its disappointment to detract from a potential postseason run. Fulks believes her team thrives on being able to stay positive while still getting the job done.
“We spend a lot of time together, and we have two rules. One is that we go hard, and the other is that we have fun while we’re doing it. This team has great chemistry and great culture. We’ve been together for a long time. They like to have fun, and so I expect them to honestly be really dialed in, but also, they’ll be laughing at the same time,” she said.
The WNIT Championship between Marshall and Illinois State will be broadcast on ESPN+.