Creighton women’s basketball opened Big East play with a loss, falling to No. 19 Marquette 76-70 on the road.
The game was close throughout between the two ranked squads. It was tied 66-66 with 3:31 to play before a 7-0 Golden Eagles run put the home team in position to earn the win.
Here are three takeaways from the contest.
Liza Karlen Leads Marquette’s Efficient Offensive Night
Like Creighton, strong offense has led the way for Marquette this season.
The Golden Eagles have been particularly dangerous from 3, shooting over 42% from there. That mark ranks second in the country, but they aren’t necessarily a team that relies on 3s falling. Marquette entered the night tied for 199th in 3-point attempts per game and top-10 in overall field goal percentage.
That last number translated to Wednesday’s contest. Marquette shot over 50% from 3 as a team, but put up a season-low seven attempts. Instead, they put up points by working the ball inside — specifically looking to forward Liza Karlen. Creighton’s interior defense has been a weakness so far this year, as it ranks outside the top 200 in opposing 2-point shooting percentage and recently gave up 30 points to Wyoming’s Allyson Fertig.
In this game, 6-foot-2 senior forward Liza Karlen starred inside. She recorded 25 points and 12 rebounds, her performance including two short jumpers to help seal the win late. Creighton made plays against her — she finished shooting 11-for-22 from the field and turned it over a couple times — but it wasn’t enough.
Marquette had its ugly moments, including a long second quarter scoring drought, but spent most of the game finding open layups and mid-range jumpers.
Ronsiek and Mogensen Keep Bluejays in it
Both teams on the floor Wednesday night relied heavily on their starters, but Creighton got 50 of its 70 points from just two players.
Emma Ronsiek was the expected contributor of that duo, leading the team with 29 points on 9-for-16 shooting. The forward didn’t get on the board in the opening period, but took off after that. She scored 23 points between the second and third quarters, ending the latter with an and-one to give her team the lead.
She made a number of other plays, like putting in a layup while falling down early in the fourth and sinking a tough fadeaway. It was Ronsiek’s third-straight 20-point performance and a season-high in points.
More of a surprise was Molly Mogensen keeping the Bluejays alive early. She scored nine points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first quarter, matching her season-high of 12 points within the first minute of the second quarter. Mogensen did mostly cool off from there, but finished with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting.
The two were the only Creighton players to shoot over 50% from the field. While Lauren Jensen made key contributions, her 13 points came on 16 shot attempts. Outside of the aforementioned trio, the Bluejays shot 3-for-22. That includes Morgan Maly’s 11 missed shots on 13 attempts.
Creighton didn’t need outstanding depth to win this game, but it did need a little more help from Maly and the supporting cast.
Mackenzie Hare’s Odd Stat Line
Mackenzie Hare, Marquette’s leading scorer and top 3-point shooter heading into the night, finished with 15 points. She accomplished that in fairly uncommon fashion, however.
Hare made every shot she took, but only put up three field goal attempts. Two of those were first-half 3s. Generally, Creighton did a good job limiting her from getting great shots on the perimeter, but they were caught being too aggressive on a few occasions.
The sophomore guard shot 10 free throws, sinking seven. Two of those trips came as she was fouled on 3-point attempts. Mallory Brake hit Hare’s hand on one shot before fouling her again on a drive to the rim on the next possession. In the fourth quarter, Hare found some space away from Lauren Jensen with her off-ball movement, and launched a shot anyway over an aggressive closeout. Jensen bowled into her, setting up free throws.
Hare was impressive down the stretch, getting fouled in the paint again to break the 66-66 tie. She assisted on both of Karlen’s late buckets. Even as the Bluejays did things well to slow her down, she found a way to make a big impact in the end.
