Saunders’ Near Triple-Double Guides Women’s Basketball to 83-74 Win Over DePaul

Omaha, Neb.– Senior Rachel Saunders (Iowa City, Iowa) came close to a triple-double to lead the Creighton Women’s Basketball Team to an 83-74 win over DePaul on Wednesday, February 1st.

The win took the Bluejays to 15-6 in the season and 9-4 in BIG EAST action, while DePaul fell to 11-11 overall and 4-7 in conference play.

Creighton got off to a quick start as the Bluejays took a 12-4 lead in the first five minutes. Junior Emma Ronsiek (Sioux Falls, SD) got things going quickly with seven of Creighton’s first 12 points, hitting a trey, a layup and two free throws. Holds a 19-11 lead with juniors just under two minutes left Morgan Maly (Crete, Neb.) connected from long range and junior Molly Mƶgensen (Farmington, Minnesota) hit one of two by the Charity Stripe to increase the Bluejay advantage to 23-11 (0:56). Creighton took a 23-13 advantage in the second.

In the opening of game two, Creighton extended his 32-15 (7:50) lead to 17 and got Treys from Junior Lauren Jensen (Lakeville, Minnesota), Mogensen and Maly. Before halftime, the Blue Demons were 42-36 (2:43) back within striking distance when DePaul hit seven of eight from the field, including five directly from beyond the arc. Creighton’s defense strained in the final three minutes to send the Bluejays into the dressing room with a 44-36 advantage.

Creighton kept DePaul at bay throughout the third quarter, extending the lead thanks to three-pointers from Junior late in the frame Jayme Horan (Omaha, Neb.) and Jensen, leading 64-52 into the fourth quarter.

The Bluejay advantage grew to 16 (79-63) late in the last frame (3:12), but DePaul finished the game with an 11-4 run to make the final 83-74.

Maly led Creighton by 21 points while Jensen and Ronsiek finished the contest with 19 and 16 points, respectively. Saunders finished the game with nine points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

DePaul’s Aneesah Morrow led all scorers with 34 points, while Keke Rimmer and Jorie Allen scored 12 and 10, respectively.

Creighton returns to the hardwood on Saturday, February 4 against St. John’s in a 1pm start.