Omaha, Neb. — Lauren Jensen scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Creighton women’s basketball team to a 72-58 victory in BIG EAST Conference action on Sunday, Dec. 5 inside D.J. Sokol Arena.
Jensen was one of four women in double-figures for Creighton, which has won four games in a row to start 5-2 (2-0 in BIG EAST play) for the fifth time in 20 seasons under Jim Flanery. The loss dropped Villanova to 3-5 on the season and 0-2 in conference action.
Both teams came out firing early, making four three pointers apiece in the first quarter as the Bluejays claimed an early 21-18 lead. Emma Ronsiek was 3-for-3 from the field and led CU with eight points and the Bluejay bench outscored Nova’s reserves by an 8-0 count.
Creighton made six straight shots in the second quarter as part of an 11-0 run to go in front 38-24 and would settle for a 40-31 lead going into the half. Jensen and Carly Bachelor each scored six points in the second quarter for the hosts. Creighton owned a 19-6 rebounding advantage in the first half and converted six offensive boards into eight points.
Jensen wasted no time returning that lead to double-figures with a steal and breakaway layup in the opening seconds of the third quarter. All five CU starters scored in the first four minutes of the quarter as it opened with a 10-4 run to stretch the lead to 50-35. Jensen buried back-to-back three-pointers late in the third quarter as CU took a 60-37 lead into the final frame. Twelve of CU’s points in the third quarters were a direct result of 12 Villanova turnovers in the period.
Villanova (3-5, 0-2 BIG EAST) battled back with a 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter to get within 17 (63-46), but Morgan Maly countered with a three-pointer and Wildcats would not get closer than 14 the rest of the way. Nova outscored CU 21-12 in the final quarter.
Zanai Jones paced the Wildcats with 13 points and five rebounds.
In addition to Jensen’s 23, Ronsiek (12), Maly (11) and Bachelor (10) all reached double-digits in the scoring column for the victors. The Bluejays won the board battle 34-24 and outscored VU 17-7 off turnovers.
The Bluejays will spend the next week in the classroom completing the semester with final exams before returning to the court to host Arizona State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in CU’s penultimate non-conference home game of the year.
