Lauren Jensen made some contributions to the win (Juszyk / WBR)
The fans got their first look at The Flans on Wednesday night as Creighton steamrolled D2 Missouri Western, 91-34, at D.J. Sokol Arena in the first of two exhibition games this week for the Jays.
In a matchup of teams who made surprise runs to the Elite Eight in their respective NCAA Tournaments last spring, Creighton opened up a 17-4 lead on the Griffons to start the game and never really looked back. They led by 14 after the first quarter, expanded that cushion to 31 by halftime, and then — aside from a sloppy start to the third quarter — saw all 10 active players enter the scoring column to make the second half look nearly as stress-free as the first. For the game, the Jays finished 24-of-39 (61.5%) from 2-point range, 11-of-22 (50.0%) from 3-point territory and made 10 of their 11 free throws as their firepower and balance on the offensive end was too much for Missouri Western to keep pace with.
“That was good for us,” head coach Jim Flanery said of his team’s first tune-up after a 4-week preseason camp. “They do some things that probably will help prepare us for some teams that pressure and get after you. They are pretty quick at the guard spot, and they are pretty balanced in terms of trying to throw the ball into the post, too. They forced us to have to communicate defensively and do some things there that made us uncomfortable in some areas. But I thought overall for the first game we did a really good job. The start of the second half wasn’t a lot of fun, but I thought we responded, and I think the game tonight showed what our depth can do. To get contributions from as many people as we did — that was a staple of last year’s team, and it will be a staple of this year’s team.”
Junior forward Morgan Maly led Creighton with 21 points and nine rebounds. She was 3-for-5 from inside the arc and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. She also dished out a pair of assists and was the only starter for the Bluejays to end the night without a turnover.
“I was excited tonight to see a different look,” Maly said. “See different players and make reads on the fly. In practice you know what you’re going to get, but personally, my confidence has grown all summer.”
Junior point guard Molly Mogensen was solid in her first game action since taking over the lead guard spot after Tatum Rembao graduated in the spring. Mogensen, unofficially, finished with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, and four steals, and navigated Missouri Western’s full-court pressure all game long with only a couple of miscues mixed in. Her eight rebounds were one shy of Maly’s team-high of nine. Between herself, fellow junior Lauren Jensen, and senior Rachael Saunders, Creighton’s three starting guards hauled in 15 boards of the team’s 28 rebounds.
“Flan has hounded us about rebounding a lot lately,” Mogensen said. “That was one of our keys before the game. With us being a little bit smaller than a lot of other teams, I think that has to be a really big emphasis for us guards.”
Aside from Mogensen’s steadiness at the point and Maly’s shooting display from the perimeter, the other standout stat was the balanced production. Maly, Jensen, and Emma Ronsiek accounted for 51.1% of the scoring production on last year’s team. On Wednesday night, the other seven active players produced 49 of the team’s 91 points and did so on 20-of-31 shooting (64.5%). It had all the ingredients of a perfect night from Jim Flanery’s point of view. There were a lot of good things to keep the confidence pendulum moving in the right direction ahead of Top 25, season-opening matchup at South Dakota State. And just enough imperfections to put on film and work on in practice.
“They did some things that made us uncomfortable,” Flanery said. “I think the thing that you want to see is how do you respond to that? And I think we responded. That’s what I told them after we had the start the third quarter and we came right back 8-0 within a minute and a half, because I got on them a little — maybe more than a little, but I thought our response was good and I think for the most part that’s what I was pleased with.”
The 57-point win matched their largest margin of victory for the Jays in an exhibition game. They beat Rockhurst 83-26 back in 2011. Creighton will conclude their preseason slate on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Truman State to D.J. Sokol Arena. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.