For the first two and a half quarters on Sunday afternoon, Xavier’s matchup zone kept Creighton’s offense in check for the most part. Then Morgan Maly caught fire. The sophomore forward buried three 3-pointers in the span of 54 seconds, then sank another one just before the buzzer at the end of the third quarter to turn what was a tie game with around six minutes left in the period into a 53-41 lead for the Bluejays heading to the fourth quarter.
Maly and fellow sophomore sharpshooter Lauren Jensen each went 4-for-9 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 14 points to lead the offensive output as Creighton cruised to a 67-51 win at the Cintas Center to improve to 9-3 on the season and 4-0 in Big East play to kick off the 2022 calendar year.
“We hadn’t faced a zone all year. Coming out of the Christmas break it was a different look for sure,” Maly told the Big East Digital Network after the game. “I think we settled in and just moved the ball and made shots.”
Playing their first game since an 81-72 win at Arkansas on December 21, the took some time to find their rhythm offensively, but still only trailed for a total of 44 seconds against the Musketeers. That came after senior center Mikayla Hayes knocked down her first 3-pointer of the season to cap off a 9-0 run which gave Xavier a 14-12 with just over 90 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Creighton tied up in the final minute, then scored on their second possession of the second quarter and never trailed the rest of the game.
The Jays got stops on eight of the first 10 possessions after coming out of the media timeout. That helped them extend their lead to seven late in the half with a chance to push it to double digits, but they had to settle for a 28-25 lead at the break after Musketeers’ junior guard Kae Satterfield scored the last four points of the second quarter.
Creighton’s struggles against Xavier’s zone were reflected in the first half stat sheet. CU committed 10 turnovers, scored just six points in the paint despite coming in averaging 28 per game on the season, and they shot 33.3% from the floor while taking 17 of their 27 shots from behind the 3-point line.
“I thought our shot quality was average in the first half,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “And a lot of it was foot work stuff. They close out pretty quickly because of how long and big they are, so that extra pass that gets you a more open three against some teams wasn’t quite as open today because our footwork and shot preparation needed to be better, and the pass had to be more on target. I just felt like we were pretty sloppy with all of that.”
Creighton got the game opened up more in the second half. Junior forward Carly Bachelor started the barrage with a pick six, then another layup inside, and that was all it took to make the 3-point looks more high percentage. The Bluejays ended the third quarter by hitting seven of their final eight attempts from beyond the arc. Five of those threes came in a seven-possession stretch that turned a tie game into a 10-point lead in their favor.
“That first half was a little rusty. You could tell we hadn’t played in a few weeks,” Maly said. “In the second half we just wanted to continue to push the ball and when we got deep in the paint that opened up our looks on the outside.”
Xavier tried to keep the game from getting away from them, but on the final possession of the period, Maly came off a flare screen and sophomore forward Emma Ronsiek delivered the ball right in the shooting pocket for a deep 3-pointer just before the buzzer. That put the Bluejays up 53-41 and the lead never shrunk to single digits the rest of the way.
During an 18-6 run to end the quarter, the former Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year hit four threes for the Jays after being held scoreless in the game up to the point.
“I thought it was just a matter of getting the game going up and down where she could hit that trailer three,” Flanery said on how Maly was able to heat up so suddenly. “We did a good job of getting it to her. Then the one at the end of the quarter — I’m not saying we needed it, but it made the lead even more comfortable. I felt like we had the momentum anyway, and a decent cushion, but throwing it to her for three more points was big.”
Emma Ronsiek, the team’s leading scorer on the season, was held to eight points on the afternoon — the third game in a row she’s scored in single digits — but still found a big way to impact the game. In 28 minutes, she finished with a career-high six assists, which resulted in 17 points, and she only turned over the ball one time to go along with four rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.
Creighton’s other front court starter, Carly Bachelor, was also key to the win with eight points and three offensive rebounds in the second half alone to help her team pull away to comfortable win.
“Her rim-running and her ability to get us extra opportunities … those are big plays,” Flanery said. “That’s what’s been neat about Carly is I feel like she’s been able to change a couple games here with just her activity level.”
The defensive side of the floor was crucial for the Bluejays as well. They recorded 10 steals and forced at least 20 turnovers for the second straight conference game. Xavier was playing with just a seven-woman rotation, but they still had three players in Kae Satterfield (10.7 ppg), Shaila Beeler (9.2 ppg), and Ayanna Townsend (9.1 ppg) available. Creighton forced that trio into 13 turnovers and held them to 25 points on 33 shots (26 field goal attempts + 7 free throw attempts).
“I thought for the most part we did a good job defensively,” Flanery said. “We had to kind of come in with two game plans, to be honest, because we didn’t know until an hour before the game that those kids weren’t going to play. At that point, we assumed they were going to throw it inside more instead of running as many ball screens.
“The game plan wasn’t super different because we have to hard gap that team and we know they’re going to throw it inside. There were stretches where we didn’t rebound as well as we needed to and there were times where we had the defensive rebound and we weren’t strong with it, but overall, we did a lot of good things.”
Next up for Creighton is a Friday night date against rival Marquette at D.J. Sokol Arena on January 7 followed by a trip to UConn on January 9. The snag is that both of those programs are currently on pause due COVID-19 issues. The Jays dealt with that this past weekend when their game with Butler was postponed while they were in Indianapolis. Flanery is hopeful that experience will allow them to deal with whatever unfolds this week and throughout this current wave of the virus.
“This weekend was good preparation for that,” he said. “Even before Xavier there was some anxiety in the locker room wondering if we’re even going to play. Having that as a reference point will be helpful.”