Liza Karlen was heartily welcomed back to the Al McGuire Center after scoring her 1,00th point in No. 23 Marquette women’s basketball’s win over Seton Hall Tuesday with a pre-game autographed ball and a photo with head coach Megan Duffy.

After the celebration, the senior forward put up a game-high 19 points in the Golden Eagles’ (15-2, 4-2 Big East) 78-47 victory over DePaul (9-9, 1-4 Big East) Saturday night.

Marquette has now played 85 games against DePaul, one of the program’s longest-running rivalries.

“When we play DePaul, it’s always an exciting and energetic game and the crowd really gets into it,” senior guard Rose Nkumu said. “Everyone contributed, and it was a good team effort overall.”

Marquette set the tone early on both sides

DePaul’s first-quarter offense resembled the freezing cold weather in Milwaukee.

Before the first quarter media timeout, the Blue Demons shot 1-for-9 from the field, and only made two more field goals in the remaining 4:55 of the first quarter. Marquette’s 20-5 run gave it a 24-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Marquette shot 10-for-17 in the first quarter, led by a combined 18 points from Karlen and senior guard Jordan King.

“Liza got some great shots on the interior and even stepped out and hit a couple of threes,” Duffy said. “Jordan’s confidence is continuing to be at a really high level as a three–level scorer.”

Marquette’s staunch defense continued in the second frame, as the Golden Eagles allowed merely nine second-quarter points to maintain a dominant 38-18 first-half lead. DePaul’s 18 points in the first half is the third-lowest first-half point total allowed by the Golden Eagles all season.

After that, DePaul had no life in it other than a 4-0 run to start the second half which forced Duffy to call a timeout, ending in the blowout victory.

“I thought we responded well out of the timeout after coming out a little flat,” Duffy said. “They continue to show me the different ways they are responding through strength in numbers.”

Forbes gets second career start

For the second game in a row, first-year forward Skylar Forbes got the starting nod.

Forbes has taken the place of graduate student forward Frannie Hottinger in Marquette’s last two games, and finished with five points, a game-high seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists.

“Skylar is just getting confident in her abilities and has bought into defense and rebounding,” Duffy said. “Skylar has bought into in her first year, of just working as hard as she can, buying into defense and rebounding and I think this kid’s offense is going to continue to evolve and develop.

“She fits our mentality with our post players of versatility. They can shoot the outside shot, they can go inside.”

Statistical leaders

Nkumu finished with 12 points and one assist shy of a double-double. Hare and graduate forward Frannie Hottinger both added nine points each.

For DePaul, graduate student guard Anaya Peoples finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Graduate forward Jorie Allen also added eight points and six rebounds.

Heading into tonight’s game, both teams ranked in the top 2o in assists-per-game. DePaul finished with 10 assists on its 19 makes, while Marquette had 19 assists on its 32 makes.

Up next

Marquette travels to Pennsylvania to visit the Villanova Wildcats (11-5, 4-1) on Jan. 17. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST.

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