Marquette women, Allazia Blockton earn top preseason honors in Big East

The Marquette women's basketball team, which won the Big East Conference tournament title last season and received its highest-ever NCAA Tournament seeding,  will be facing high expectations this season with its heralded junior class.

The Golden Eagles were picked by league coaches as the unanimous favorite in the Big East, and junior guard Allazia Blockton was unanimously selected as the preseason player of year.

In addition, MU junior forward Erika Davenport and junior guard Natisha Hiedeman were selected to the 11-player all-Big East team.

The honors were announced Wednesday at Big East media day in New York. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team.

RELATED:MU men picked to finish seventh; Howard on second team

Blockton was the Big East's leading scorer in all games last season at 17.1 points per game, was a unanimous first-team all-Big East pick and earned honorable mention All-American honors. She became the youngest player in program history to score 1,000 career points and is 21st on the all-time list with 1,126 after just two seasons.

Last season the Golden Eagles (25-8) finished 13-5 in the Big East behind DePaul and Creighton (both 16-2), went on to win the conference tournament at the Al McGuire Center by beating DePaul, 86-78, in the title game, and earned the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament's Stockton Regional. Their season ended abruptly, however, with a 68-65 first-round loss to 12th-seeded Quinnipiac when a last-second three-point attempt that would have forced overtime bounced off the rim.

Davenport, who averaged 13.2 points and 9.2 rebounds while shooting 57.3% last season, was one of four unanimous preseason all-Big East selections. She was a second-team all-conference pick after last season. 

Hiedeman earned all-conference honorable mention honors last season after averaging 13.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

BIG EAST PRESEASON HONORS

Player of the year

Allazia Blockton, Marquette, Jr., G 

Freshman of the year

Dee Bekelja, DePaul, Fr., G
 
All-BIg East team*

Tanita Allen, DePaul, Jr., G

Amarah Coleman, DePaul, Sr., G

Erika Davenport, Marquette, Jr., F

Audrey Faber, Creighton, Jr., F

Adrianna Hahn, Villanova, Jr., G

Natisha Hiedeman, Marquette, Jr., G

JaQuan Jackson, Seton Hall, R-Sr., G

Jovana Nogic, Providence, Jr., G

Tori Schickel, Butler, Jr., F

Akina Wellere, St. John’s, Jr., G/F

Dionna White, Georgetown, Jr., G

* extra player added due to a tie in voting