UConn women face road test at Marquette today

The UConn women have plenty at stake entering the final weekend of the regular season, beginning with today's Big East Conference basketball game against Marquette at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee (5 p.m., CPTV).

The fourth-ranked Huskies (25-3, 12-2) can still earn the overall No. 1 seed for the upcoming Big East tournament, which begins Friday, March 2, at the XL Center in Hartford, but they could also slip all the way to No. 3.

Assuming UConn takes care of Marquette (13-14, 4-10) and No. 3 Notre Dame beats South Florida today, Monday night's UConn-Notre Dame showdown in Hartford (9 p.m., ESPN2) will decided the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed.

The Irish, 13-1 in the Big East heading into today, can win the title outright with wins over USF and UConn. If UConn beats Notre Dame and both teams finish the regular season 14-2 in conference play, a coin flip with determine the top two seeds.

Should UConn lose to the Irish and finish conference play at 13-3, St. John's could earn the No. 2 seed and drop the Huskies to No. 3 by defeating Villanova today at home and at No. 15 Georgetown on Monday.

The 20th-ranked Red Storm would also finish 13-3 with the two wins, but they hold the tiebreaker over UConn by virtue of a 57-56 win over the Huskies in Storrs on Feb. 18.

UConn has never lost to Marquette in six career meetings, including a 79-47 win at home last season. The Huskies are led by their only senior, guard Tiffany Hayes, who is averaging 15.5 points per game.

- Day Staff Reports