Creighton Ladies’s Hoops Lights up Missouri Western, 91-34, in Preseason Debut – White and Blue Evaluation

Lauren Jensen made some contributions to the win (Juszyk / WBR)

The followers obtained their first take a look at The Flans on Wednesday evening as Creighton steamrolled D2 Missouri Western, 91-34, at D.J. Sokol Area within the first of two exhibition video games this week for the Jays.

In a matchup of groups who made shock runs to the Elite Eight of their respective NCAA Tournaments final spring, Creighton opened up a 17-4 lead on the Griffons to start out the sport and by no means actually appeared again. They led by 14 after the primary quarter, expanded that cushion to 31 by halftime, after which — apart from a sloppy begin to the third quarter — noticed all 10 lively gamers enter the scoring column to make the second half look almost as stress-free as the primary. For the sport, the Jays completed 24-of-39 (61.5%) from 2-point vary, 11-of-22 (50.0%) from 3-point territory and made 10 of their 11 free throws as their firepower and stability on the offensive finish was an excessive amount of for Missouri Western to maintain tempo with.

“That was good for us,” head coach Jim Flanery stated of his crew’s first tune-up after a 4-week preseason camp. “They do some issues that most likely will assist put together us for some groups that strain and get after you. They’re fairly fast on the guard spot, and they’re fairly balanced when it comes to making an attempt to throw the ball into the submit, too. They pressured us to have to speak defensively and do some issues there that made us uncomfortable in some areas. However I assumed general for the primary sport we did a very good job. The beginning of the second half wasn’t a number of enjoyable, however I assumed we responded, and I believe the sport tonight confirmed what our depth can do. To get contributions from as many individuals as we did — that was a staple of final yr’s crew, and will probably be a staple of this yr’s crew.”

Junior ahead Morgan Maly led Creighton with 21 factors and 9 rebounds. She was 3-for-5 from contained in the arc and 5-for-7 from 3-point vary. She additionally dished out a pair of assists and was the one starter for the Bluejays to finish the evening with out a turnover.

“I used to be excited tonight to see a unique look,” Maly stated. “See completely different gamers and make reads on the fly. In apply what you’re going to get, however personally, my confidence has grown all summer season.”

Junior level guard Molly Mogensen was strong in her first sport motion since taking on the lead guard spot after Tatum Rembao graduated within the spring. Mogensen, unofficially, completed with eight factors, eight rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals, and navigated Missouri Western’s full-court strain all sport lengthy with solely a few miscues blended in. Her eight rebounds had been one shy of Maly’s team-high of 9. Between herself, fellow junior Lauren Jensen, and senior Rachael Saunders, Creighton’s three beginning guards hauled in 15 boards of the crew’s 28 rebounds.

“Flan has hounded us about rebounding loads recently,” Mogensen stated. “That was one in all our keys earlier than the sport. With us being just a little bit smaller than a number of different groups, I believe that must be a very massive emphasis for us guards.”

Apart from Mogensen’s steadiness on the level and Maly’s taking pictures show from the perimeter, the opposite standout stat was the balanced manufacturing. Maly, Jensen, and Emma Ronsiek accounted for 51.1% of the scoring manufacturing on final yr’s crew. On Wednesday evening, the opposite seven lively gamers produced 49 of the crew’s 91 factors and did so on 20-of-31 taking pictures (64.5%). It had all of the elements of an ideal evening from Jim Flanery’s standpoint. There have been a number of good issues to maintain the boldness pendulum transferring in the fitting route forward of High 25, season-opening matchup at South Dakota State. And simply sufficient imperfections to placed on movie and work on in apply.

“They did some issues that made us uncomfortable,” Flanery stated. “I believe the factor that you simply wish to see is how do you reply to that? And I believe we responded. That’s what I advised them after we had the beginning the third quarter and we got here proper again 8-0 inside a minute and a half, as a result of I obtained on them just a little — perhaps greater than just a little, however I assumed our response was good and I believe for probably the most half that’s what I used to be happy with.”

The 57-point win matched their largest margin of victory for the Jays in an exhibition sport. They beat Rockhurst 83-26 again in 2011. Creighton will conclude their preseason slate on Saturday afternoon once they welcome Truman State to D.J. Sokol Area. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.