Women's Athlete Spotlight: Marley Hughes is a Threat on and off the Court
LA CROSSE, Wis. – Marley Hughes is a junior on the women's basketball team at Viterbo, and she wants to show everyone that it's possible to be excellent on the court and in the classroom with the right work ethic.
On the court, Hughes is a threat offensively and defensively, leading the Viterbo women's basketball team in assists per game (3.2) and steals per game (1.6) in the 2025-26 season. Her contributions to the team on the court helped to lead the team to their most conference wins since the 2001-02 season.
Hughes also led the team in assists per game in the 2024-25 season (3.4) as well as in the 2023-24 season (3.4).
In her career, Hughes has scored 487 points for the V-Hawks in 80 games. During the 2025-26 season, Hughes moved into the top ten for career assists as the 8th overall in program history with a total of 265 assists.
Hughes did not reach the level that she is at without putting in the work behind the scenes. She has a passion for working hard, and she hopes that she can lead her teammates down the same path.
"On my team, I hope that I impact my teammates for the years to come by showing them what it means to work extremely hard and put in 100% effort," says Hughes. "As a captain on the team, I want to instill in our team the importance of doing the little things that may not be the most fun but separate your team from others,".
In being a student-athlete at Viterbo, Hughes has also gained a strong foundation in leadership roles. She is a captain on the women's basketball team, assisting in leading the underclassmen towards future success.
In addition to that, Hughes has served on the Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) as the Vice President for the duration of the 2025-26 academic year. Her time as part of SALT has included serving student athletes as well as helping in planning service activities and building community within the greater La Crosse area.
Amidst her busy schedule and list of responsibilities, Hughes consistently excels in the classroom. She has earned conference All-Academic honors on three occasions, NAIA Scholar Athlete twice, and was named as a CSC Academic All-District recipient once.
"I am extremely proud of myself for being an NAIA Scholar Athlete every year that I've been nominated at Viterbo," says Hughes. "College classes require a lot of time and dedication, so being able to take care of my responsibilities in the classroom and add all of my responsibilities for basketball and a job onto that makes me proud of myself,".
While at Viterbo, Hughes has been studying Elementary Education with the purpose of one day educating the next generation. She believes that her time at the university as a student-athlete and her dedication to a strong work ethic has prepared her to succeed beyond college.
"[A hard work ethic] transfers over to future life experiences like graduate school or jobs that we all will be in one day," says Hughes. "Always doing one step more to make yourself better is a standard I believe we should all hold ourselves to,".
Marley Hughes and the V-Hawk women's basketball team will return to the court in the fall of 2026. The team will host a summer camp that is available to high school teams in the area. For more information, click here.
In the meantime, updates on the team are available by following the team on Instagram (@viterbowbb) or Facebook (Viterbo Women's Basketball).