Washington, D.C. — A complete team effort sends the Creighton women’s basketball team home on a happy flight as the Bluejays defeated Georgetown 65-57 on Saturday, January 28.
The win lifted Creighton to 14-8 on the season and 8-4 in BIG EAST action, while Georgetown dropped to 11-10 overall and 4-8 in conference play.
Early in the game senior Rachael Saunders (Iowa City, Iowa) guided her squad with Creighton’s first four points. She went on to dish out a pair of assists in the frame, helping Creighton claim a 12-9 edge after ten minutes.
The second quarter began with another bucket from Saunders to push the Bluejay lead out to 14-9 (8:48), but Georgetown closed the gap to 14-13 (7:36) thanks in large part to a trey from Kristina Moore. The Bluejays responded with six straight on buckets from Saunders and juniors Emma Ronsiek (Sioux Falls, S.D.) as well as Morgan Maly (Crete, Neb.), giving Creighton a 20-13 lead with 5:38 remaining. Down the stretch of the second quarter junior Molly Mogensen (Farmington, Minn.) scored five straight, including Creighton’s first three-pointer of the contest to extend the Creighton advantage to 28-17 (1:30). The Bluejays went on to take a 28-19 lead into the locker room at the half.
Despite a Georgetown surge throughout the third quarter, junior Lauren Jensen (Lakeville, Minn.) kept the Hoyas at arms length. Jensen scored 14 points in the frame, none bigger than a jumper from the elbow after Creighton’s lead was trimmed to three at 32-29 (6:04). Holding a 39-34 lead with 4:27 remaining in the third, Creighton restored control by heating up from outside. Jensen connected from long range on consecutive possessions, then Maly dialed up another from long distance to grab a 48-34 edge (2:21).
Maly asserted herself in the final frame with eight points, including four early in the quarter to push the lead to 54-39 (8:56). Georgetown responded by increasing the pressure to close within four at 59-55 (4:48). Things got more dicey with under two minutes remaining as the Hoyas forced Saunders into her fifth foul with Creighton leading 61-57 (1:50).
With the game in the balance senior Carly Bachelor (Topeka, Kan.) made a pair of critical plays to cement Creighton’s victory, drawing a charge with 1:10 remaining and grabbing an offensive rebound with 17 seconds remaining.
Jensen led Creighton with 20 points, while Maly and Ronsiek finished with 16 and 14 points respectively. Ronsiek led Creighton with 11 rebounds for her fifth career double-double and first of the season.
Kelsey Ransom led all scorers with 24 points in the loss for Georgetown, while Moore delivered 14 points.
Creighton returns to the hardwood on Wednesday, February 1 against DePaul in D.J. Sokol Arena at 6:00 p.m.
