OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Seniors Morgan Maly and Lauren Jensen combined to score 40 and both players topped 2,000 career points as No. 22 Creighton defeated Villanova 70-55 to close out the Big East Conference regular season on Sunday night.
No. 2 seed Creighton has a bye until Saturday’s quarterfinals when it will play the winner of Friday’s game between No. 7 seed Providence and 10th-seeded Georgetown. No. 5 seed Villanova advances to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 seed Marquette on Saturday. Regular-season champion Connecticut will host the event.
Maly needed 15 points to reach the milestone and she scored 23 for the Bluejays (24-5, 16-2), who matched the team record for conference victories. Maly added 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double this season and she made two 3-pointers to add to her school record with 324. Jensen needed six points and finished with 17, adding six assists. Molly Mogensen grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to go with seven points.
Freshman Jasmine Bascoe scored a season-high 27 on 11-for-20 shooting with four 3-pointers for the Wildcats (17-13, 11-7). She finished a rebound shy of a double-double. Maddie Webber scored 14.
Villanova missed eight straight shots and went more than five minutes without scoring but managed to lead 12-11 after one quarter.
Mogensen hit a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run to end the half and Creighton led 31-25.
The Bluejays never trailed in the third quarter and led by nine when Bascoe finished off a three-point play to get the Wildcats within 47-41 heading to the fourth.
Jensen and Maly had back-to-back baskets and Jayme Horan and Maly buried two straight 3-pointers to put the Bluejays up 57-41 in the first two-plus minutes and they cruised from there.
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