VILLANOVA, PA. – On Sunday afternoon at the Finneran Pavilion, the No. 21 Creighton Bluejays came to town and tallied a 63-49 victory over the Villanova Wildcats. With the victory, Creighton improves to 14-3 overall and 5-2 in BIG EAST play, while the Wildcats fall to 12-6 on the year and 5-2 in league action.
After two free throws by Wildcat junior guard Zanai Jones cut the Creighton lead to 26-22 at the 3:33 mark of the second quarter, the Bluejays finished the half on a 9-2 run to take a 33-24 lead into halftime. Of the nine Creighton points, five came from the foul line, including four by Morgan Maly.
The Wildcats struggled offensively in the first half connecting on just 9-of-31 from the field and an 0-for-7 effort from three-point range. Creighton was 12-of-30 from the field and 3-of-9 from behind the arc.
Creighton continued the momentum from late in the first half into the start of the third quarter, as the Bluejays scored eight of the first 10 points of the third period to take a 41-26 advantage. Maly led the charge with a 10-foot jumper in the lane and a deep three from the left wing.
The Bluejays used the early run to take a 43-32 lead after three quarters of play.
Trailing 45-32 with 8:50 remaining. Villanova got back-to-back buckets from Jones and junior guard Lucy Olsen to make it a 45-36 game. Following a missed three by Olsen that would have cut the Creighton lead to six, the Bluejays tallied five straight points to push the lead back to 50-36 with 4:34 on the clock. The five points included a lay-up and free throw by Maly and a short jumper by Emma Ronsiek.
Following the five consecutive Creighton points, the Wildcats would not get within single digits the rest of the way,
In the loss, Olsen led Villanova with a game-high 29 points to go with seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. She was the only Wildcat to reach double figures.
Creighton was paced by Maly who had a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Ronsiek finished with 19 points, while Lauren Jensen added 12 points.
For the game, Villanova was 21-of-64 from the field (32.8%), 0-for-17 from three-point range and 7-of-10 from the foul line (70.0%), while Creighton shot 39.3 percent from the floor (21-of-64), 31.6 percent from three-point range (6-of-19) and 76.5 percent from the charity stripe (13-of-17). Creighton owned a 45-33 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova returns to action on Wednesday with a road game at Providence. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Villanova saw its streak of making at least one three-point field goal in 635 straight games come to an end. Prior to today the last time Villanova did not make a three was at Boston College on Jan. 2, 2004…The Wildcats fall to 1-1 versus nationally ranked opponents…Villanova is now 7-2 at home this season…Today was the 13th 20-point game of the season for Lucy Olsen and the 18th of her career.
