OMAHA, Neb. — Morgan Maly tied her career-high with 30 points and added 10 rebounds as the No. 22 Creighton women’s basketball team never trailed in an 81-55 win over South Dakota on Friday morning on Kids Day at D.J. Sokol Arena. All five starters scored in double-figures for the Bluejays, who improved to 2-0 on the young season and still has not trailed.
The victory moved the Bluejays to 2-0 on the season, while South Dakota fell to 1-1 overall.
Creighton wasted no time jumping on the Coyotes, scoring the first seven points of the game to force a USD timeout after just 98 seconds. South Dakota native Emma Ronsiek broke the ice with a lay-up in transition, Maly drained the first of her six three-pointers on the day and Mallory Brake added her first points of the year on a transition score. After the timeout and a USD basket, Maly drained consecutive jumpers to push Creighton’s edge to 11-2 (6:27). Leading 21-11 with just over two minutes left in the opening frame, a trey from Maly and a floating jumper from Molly Mogensen gave the Bluejays’ their largest lead of the quarter at 26-11 (1:13). Creighton went on to take a 29-14 lead into the second quarter.
Twice in the second frame the Bluejay edge grew to as much as 20 points (34-14 and 41-21), but the Coyotes were able to get Creighton in foul trouble to remain in striking distance, pulling back with 45-30 as the teams went to the locker rooms for the half.
South Dakota continued to slice into Creighton’s advantage early in the third, getting as close as 10 points at 45-35 with 7:22 remaining in the third. The Bluejays turned to Maly, who delivered five straight on a mid-range jumper and a trey. Up 52-37 moments later the Bluejays put the game away with a 12-0 run, led by six points by Maly and buckets from three other players to extend their lead to 64-37 (1:31).
The final ten minutes saw Creighton’s edge range as low as 20 points (66-46) and as high as 28 (77-49) as the Bluejays coasted to the victory.
The 30-point, 10 rebound effort was Maly’s fourth career double-double, leading Creighton in both categories. Emma Ronsiek finished with 16 points, while Lauren Jensen had 11 points. Rounding out the Bluejays in double figures, Mogensen and Mallory Brake each closed the game with 10 points. Brake’s came within one rebound of her first double-double, finishing with nine rebounds, while she led Creighton with a +36 point differential while on the floor.
Maly’s performance, which came in 29 minutes of play, made her the first Bluejay with 30 points and 10 rebounds in a game since current assistant coach Jaylyn Agnew had 33 points and 11 rebounds at Providence on February 10, 2018.
South Dakota was paced by 13 points from reserve Tori DePerry, while Preseason All-Summit League choice Grace Larkins contributed nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Bluejays return to the court on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. when they host Green Bay in D.J. Sokol Arena.
