When you put a car key into the ignition, the engine needs to turn over in order for the car to run.

The key that started the car for Marquette women’s basketball’s 2025-26 season on Monday was senior guard Jaidynn Mason.

The car had no rust and didn’t drop off any passengers from the 2024-25 season. It even raced from 0-to-60 mph as if it were on a drag track after seven months covered up in the offseason garage.

Marquette is the only program in Division 1 women’s college basketball that can say it returned every player from the previous season, and there weren’t many doubts coming in about the car’s running capabilities.

It was merely a matter of remembering where the key was.

The engine sounded the same at its start as it did the season before, with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and hundreds of screaming Milwaukee Public School students ringing in another basketball season at the Al McGuire Center, in which the Marquette Golden Eagles routed the Winthrop Eagles 89-57.

Mason, the catalyst, produced her first 20-plus point outing in a Marquette uniform and came one point shy of tying her career-high of 26 points. On top of her 7-for-13 from the floor, she grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists.

“I thought [Jaidynn] was phenomenal,” Marquette head coach Cara Consuegra said. “She is our most improved, and she is also our X-factor. I thought she was aggressive from the start, really pushed the pace for us.”

The Golden Eagles had the pedal on the floor from tip-off to the final buzzer, giving a burst of acceleration that allowed the car to cruise to its victory.

Winthrop’s offense was stalled to six points in the opening frame on a 20% shooting clip, while Marquette scored 23 and assisted on each of the seven field goals made. The Golden Eagles nearly tied their 5.2 made 3-pointers per game last season by shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc in the first, which included a perfect 2-for-2 from junior forward Skylar Forbes.

Forbes, who was named to the Naismith preseason watchlist, finished with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-for-4 from the perimeter, which she put a big emphasis on this summer.

“Being able to build off of what I was able to do last year, staying consistent, getting in the gym,” Forbes said.

Marquette’s offense didn’t run out of gas until the empty tank light dinged following a 0-for-10 fourth quarter from the 3-point line and a 2:01 drought to close the game. The Golden Eagles still assisted on 27 of their 31 makes in the game, and created nine second-chance points in the fourth quarter.

Consuegra was not worried about making a gas station stop amidst the fourth quarter misses.

“I thought we did a good job against their zone,” Consuegra said. “We’re able to get the ball to that nail and find our shooters in the corner. When we executed in the half-court, I thought we were excellent.”

Mason said the influx of perimeter shooters, who combined for 11 3-point makes, helped pave the way.

“We have a lot of three-point shooters, so when people zone us, it becomes easy,” Mason said. “Jordan [Meulemans], being another player we added to the roster, really helped a lot. Skylar continues to shoot the three; I’m improving on shooting the three, Halle and Lee as well.

Meulemans, the junior guard who hopped in the backseat as the lone transfer addition from Butler, finished with six points on 2-for-6 3-point shooting in her debut in the blue & gold.

Now, it’s time to see if the car can keep cruising to a 2-0 record when Wisconsin comes to the Al McGuire Center Saturday at 2 p.m. CST in the Battle of I-94. It will be the first time the two programs have faced each other since 2017.

This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.