No. 23 Marquette women’s basketball just can’t seem to lose.

Starting the year undefeated, the Golden Eagles (8-0) kept to their winning ways and beat the Penn Quakers 87-52 Sunday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.

“I was really looking forward to this game,” Marquette head coach Megan Duffy said. “Their (Penn) style of playing 5-out and always moving and cutting and five people on the floor who can score, we were concerned about just getting in the swing of things with a different style. I thought overall just a great team effort.”

Strong third quarter

Heading into halftime, Marquette led 37-24. However, the Golden Eagles were not satisfied with the 13-point advantage.

“(Mataya) Gayle was really good, I thought she really put the team on her back in that first half,” Duffy said. “It didn’t feel great at halftime.”

Marquette outscored Penn 32-9 in the third frame. Senior guard Jordan King, who scored eight points in the period, said that turning defense into offense was huge for the team.

“There was some things that we needed to get better at,” King said. “Just being able to lock into those and created our offense from the defensive end. That third quarter was fueled by us being able to reset at halftime and get back to what we’re good at.”

In the first half, the Quakers out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 18-13. Then, in the third quarter, Marquette hit the glass hard, grabbing 13 boards to Penn’s two.

“They had seven offensive rebounds in the first half,” Duffy said. “It gave them a lot of extra possessions and a little bit of an energy boost too. I thought we settled down in to controlling the boards a little better in the third and fourth quarter.”

Statistical leaders

For the Golden Eagles, graduate student forward Frannie Hottinger finished with a season-high 20 points.

“Frannie has had a lot of change thrown at her in the past six months,” Duffy said. “You can see as the games go on that she is finding her role, and that she is getting more comfortable with both sides of the ball for us.”

Sophomore guard Kenzie Hare and King also scored in double figures.

For Penn, first year guard Mataya Gayle finished with a game-high 23 points, but the Quakers shot a measly 3-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Forbes fills in

At the 6:51 mark of the second quarter, senior forward Liza Karlen picked up her second foul of the game, forcing her to the bench for the rest of the half. First year forward Skylar Forbes would finish out the half in her absence.

“She’s been able to step up in moments that we’ve needed her,” King said. “She is finding confidence in that and I know as teammates we have confidence when she walks out onto the floor.”

Forbes finished the game with four points and a personal-best 10 rebounds in 26 minutes.

“The more reps and minutes she’s able to get in games, the better she is going to become,” Duffy said. “I really like our rotation now.”

Up next 

Marquette travels to Normal, Illinois to take on the Illinois State Redbirds (6-2) next Sunday, Dec. 10. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST.

“Illinois state is a great team, and has been playing really well at their home floor,” King said. “Going down there, it should be an exciting game as always.”

This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.