OMAHA, NEB. – The Villanova Wildcats traveled to Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday afternoon, where they fell to the No. 21 Creighton Bluejays by a score of 69-59. With the loss, Villanova falls to 17-10 overall and 10-6 in BIG EAST play, while Creighton improves to 22-4 on the year and 13-3 in league action.
The Wildcats came out strong racing to a 12-2 lead on four consecutive three-point field goals. Following a lay-up by Creighton forward Emma Ronsiek that made it a 17-6 game, the Wildcats scored six of the game's next eight points to take a 23-8 advantage.
Creighton finished the first quarter scoring on a lay-up by Molly Mogensen just before the buzzer. The Mogensen bucket cut the Villanova lead to 23-10 after one.
Hot shooting was the key to the first quarter for Villanova, as the Wildcats were 8-of-15 from the field and 5-of-7 from three. Creighton was just 5-of-16 from the floor and 0-for-5 from behind the arc.
Creighton started the second quarter on a 12-4 run to cut the Villanova lead to 27-22. Bluejay guard Morgan Maly led the charge with seven of the 12 points. The Bluejays would take their first lead of the game at 33-31 with 1:20 to play in the opening half when Lauren Jensen connected on a deep three.
Villanova got a lay-up from junior center Christina Dalce with two seconds on the second quarter clock to send the teams to halftime tied at 33-33.
Junior guatrd Lucy Olsen led Villanova in the opening half with 11 points, while freshman Maddie Webber added 10 points. Mogensen and Maly led Creighton with eight points each.
Leading 42-39 midway through the third quarter, the Bluejays finished the period on a 12-6 run to lead 54-45 entering the fourth and final stanza. Creighton shot 60.0 percent in the third quarter and forced Villanova into five turnovers that the Bluejays converted into eight points.
Creighton put the game away over the first 3:23 of the fourth quarter by using a 10-3 spurt to open-up a 64-48 lead. Emma Ronsiek highlighted the spurt with two three-point field goals. Creighton shot 75.0 percent (9-of-12) from the floor in the fourth quarter and would lead by as many as 21.
Olsen led the Wildcats in the loss with 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including a 4-of-8 effort from three-point range. She also added five assists and two rebounds. Dalce tallied a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Webber was the third Wildcat in double figures with 10 points.
Creighton was paced by Jensen with 20 points and Maly who had 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Ronsiek finished with 15 points, while Mogensen added 13 points, six assists and four steals.
For the game, Villanova was 27-of-59 from the floor (45.8%), 9-of-21 from three-point range (42.9%) and 6-of-6 from the foul line, while the Bluejays shot 52.5 percent from the field (32-of-61), 60.0 percent from long distance (12-of-20) and 75.0 percent from the charity stripe (3-of-4). Villanova owned a 32-29 advantage on the backboards.
Villanova will conclude its two-game road trip on Wednesday with a game at No. Connecticut. Tip-time at Gampel Pavilion is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Creighton leads the all-time series by a 13-10 count…Zanai Jones missed her third straight game due to an injury…Bella Runyan has 20 assists in her last four games…Lucy Olsen registered her 19th game this year of scoring 20 points or more…Christina Dalce now has nine
