Three reasons why the 19th-ranked Marquette women's basketball team is still undefeated

The Marquette women's basketball team just keeps finding ways to win.

The Golden Eagles (10-0) continued the best start in program history by pulling out a 71-66 victory over Creighton in their Big East opener Wednesday night at the Al McGuire Center.

No. 19 MU is ranked just ahead of the Bluejays in this week's Associated Press top 25. Creighton was also picked to finish ahead of the Golden Eagles in the preseason Big East coaches poll.

With six new players, nobody quite knew what to make of MU before the season.

"We show up the same to practice every day, whether we're ranked or nor," MU sophomore guard Kenzie Hare said. "We get the opportunity to practice, and that's not an opportunity we take lightly.

"We want to get better every day and that's what we're focused on. Trying to be best versions of ourselves."

Here are three reasons why the Golden Eagles are exceeding expectations:

Frannie Hottinger has fit in perfectly in starting lineup

The starters decided Wednesday night's game, with Creighton and MU bench players combining to score just nine points.

Frannie Hottinger, a 6-foot-1 forward, has seamlessly fit into the Golden Eagles' opening lineup as a graduate transfer from Lehigh.

Hottinger had eight points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes against Creighton, while also doing a lot of the unheralded work like screen setting.

"Frannie's great," Hare said. "One, she's gives us great leadership. She's an experienced player. She's a great player.

"She's a great post player inside and she can hit threes, so she can stretch the floor as well. She's a blast to play with. She's a great teammate, always first to help us up. Always first to congratulate us."

Hottinger was the Patriot League player of the year last season, but she's quickly found her role at MU.

"Our team is so versatile and any given day someone can go off and have a great day, which is awesome," Hottinger said. "So I just try to provide what I can given the game for my team.

"Just continuing to rebound. Continuing to do my best to defend and O-board and continue to take and make open shots when I can in the offense."

The chemistry is obvious on the roster, with MU compiling 21 assists on its 29 baskets against Creighton. The Golden Eagles have six games this season with 20 or more assists.

Kenzie Hare is more than a three-point sniper

MU sharpshooter Kenzie Hare sank her only two three-point attempts against the Bluejays, bumping her season total to an eye-popping 37 of 62 (59.7%). That percentage is a top-five mark in the country.

But Hare wants to show that she is more than just a threat behind the arc.

"I think I've really worked on being a balanced, three-level scorer," Hare said. "We worked on that a lot over the summer and continue to work on it during the season. I definitely take a lot of pride in that."

Hare aggressively attacked the basket against Creighton, notching a college high 10 free-throw attempts. She also had a crucial three-point play in the closing minutes of MU's comeback victory over Illinois State on Sunday.

"She's been able to get downhill with her craftiness," MU head coach Megan Duffy said. "I think she's just more confident of not being just one-dimensional from that freshman year trying to figure it out, trying to find a spot. Now she's very comfortable in what she's doing."

Liza Karlen is excelling in the clutch

Liza Karlen was the star of Wednesday night's victory with 25 points and 12 rebounds, her second double-double of the season.

"She just keeps proving herself making timely baskets," Duffy said. "Whether it's the big one down the stretch, whether it's when we're in a scoring drought."

Karlen and fellow seniors Jordan King and Rose Nkumu combined for 18 of MU's 22 points in the fourth quarter.

"One through five of us, everyone who steps in or subs into the game, are very confident to shoot their shots," Karlen said. "I really believe that we don't have one main scorer, two main scorers on this team.

"I think we can roll five deep all the time and that's something that I'm very proud of this year."

Karlen also scored nine points in the fourth quarter of MU's victory over Illinois State.

Even more impressive to Duffy is that Karlen's performances in the past week have come while studying for rigorous engineering exams.

"Completely just working in all aspects of her life right now," Duffy said. "So for her to play a game like she is, even against Illinois State on Sunday when she made big baskets, she's going to hustle off and probably not sleep much preparing for two more finals.

"She's the epitome of what a phenomenal student-athlete is. Obviously she's getting that go-to player mentality, getting some big-game experience."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette Golden Eagles women's basketball undefeated under Megan Duffy