Two Wisconsin natives find their way back home to play for Marquette

Cara Consuegra felt there something was missing from the rosters in her first two seasons as head coach of the Marquette women’s basketball team.

“When I took over the job, we didn’t have any Wisconsin kids on the roster,” Consuegra said. “I didn’t like that.

“I love to build with home-state kids if they are the right fit. I think it boosts our state, it boosts the community. It boosts everybody here, rallying around them.”

In a sprint to fill holes on MU’s team for the 2026-27 season, Consuegra succeeded in getting two Wisconsin-born transfers, Kayl Petersen and Noelle Anthon, who each took unique paths to get back home.

Petersen originally committed to MU in 2022 when she was a junior star at Waupun High School. She helped the Warriors win their first WIAA state championship as a sophomore.

“My older sister played,” Petersen said. “They just kind of carried me around everywhere, and so I always had a basketball in my hand.

“Waupun is just a great community. I got to watch our guys team go to state in 2016 and then 2019, so that kind of grew my love for wanting to get to state and win games.”

But when then-MU head coach Megan Duffy took the job at Virginia Tech in 2024, Petersen decided to follow her.

Before making her decision, Petersen spoke with Consuegra, who was hired by MU in April 2024. That familiarity was helpful when the 6-foot-1 Petersen entered the transfer portal after averaging 3.2 points per game over two seasons at Virginia Tech.

Petersen quickly made another commitment to MU.

“Having someone who is willing to take you in and love you hard was something that I was looking for and she’s exactly that,” Petersen said of Consuegra.

Petersen’s inside-out game should help ease the loss of Skylar Forbes to West Virginia.

“We talked about what she was looking for, what we needed,” Consuegra said. “She felt like the perfect fit and she has been.

“She’s a great complement to Halle [Vice]. She’s got an amazing skill-set, a great ability to score the ball. She’s really developed as a great leader. I think she’s going to be, even as a first-year kid, one of our best leaders on our team.”

Consuegra likes to tell her players to “prove ourselves right” instead of worrying about converting critics.

That’s what she likes about Anthon, a 6-foot-2 post player who didn’t have any NCAA Division I offers after graduating from Oconomowoc High School in the same Class of 2024 as Petersen.

Petersen decided to attend powerhouse Hutchinson Community College in Kansas.

“Kind of bet on herself,” Consuegra said. “And said, ‘You know what? I’m going to go to this junior college at Hutch, which is one of the best in the country. I’m going to put myself in a difficult situation and see if I can get better.’ And the kid got so much better.”

As a sophomore last season, Anthon averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists and proved herself worthy of a look at the Division I level.

“It’s always the work that goes unseen,” Anthon said. “It’s the work in the mornings, late at night. And learning your body, too, taking rest days when you need it. It’s the work that goes unseen. I was up in the morning with my shooting coach at Hutch every morning at 7 a.m. before my classes. And then we’d watch film after practice. It’s all the little things.”

It was an easy decision to come to MU.

“I was 12 hours away, it was hard for [my family] to make games and to watch games,” Anthon said. “Family was such a big part of my decision in the first place. This is just closer to home, I’m 45 minutes away. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Anthon remembers coming to an MU game against Connecticut at the Al McGuire Center when she was at Oconomowoc and wanting to be part of the action. Now she practices in the building every day.

“It was so fun,” Anthon said. “It was my senior year, I can’t even imagine playing in here. And now I am. It’s crazy to think about that.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two Wisconsin natives find their way back home to play for Marquette