A career-high 14 points for sophomore guard Kennedy Townsend and three buzzer beaters provided the momentum to lift the No. 21 Creighton Bluejays over the Saint John’s Red Storm in both teams’ last game of 2023.
“That’s a huge momentum change,” Townsend send. “The game was within 12 points with four minutes left… that could be the difference between a five-point or a 12-point game at that point.”
After a slow shooting start, in which Creighton shot 0-8 in the first 9:59 of the first quarter, Townsend opened the floodgates for the Jays with a near-halfcourt heave to give Creighton a 16-12 lead going into the second quarter.
The rest of the game was all Jays, as Creighton locked down their opponents for the second game in a row, following up a strong defensive performance against South Dakota State by holding St. John’s to 40% from the field and 20% from three while winning the turnover battle 10-7.
“St. John’s is a drive-first team, they have a lot of guards that like to get downhill,” senior guard Lauren Jensen said. “They can shoot the three, and they did make some, but they’re more drive first, so just being in gaps was going to be huge, and I feel like we executed that for the most part.”
Creighton outscored the Red Storm 17-11 in the second quarter, capped off by a midrange buzzer beater by senior guard Molly Mogensen. to give the Jays a 33-23 lead at halftime, and each team had a star look to take over the game out of the locker room.
For Creighton, that star was Jensen, who found her rhythm and led the Jays with 13 points and three assists in the second half on her way to a game-high 20 points. Jensen shot 4-6 from deep on the game, the senior’s most efficient game so far in a down shooting season.
St. John’s second-half production came largely from senior forward Jillian Archer, who put up 12 second-half points for the Red Storm before fouling out, including their first seven of the half, despite coming off an injury.
“[Archer] was playing with one arm, so what she did was impressive,” St. John’s head coach Joe Tartamella said. “She had to defend 29 or 30 minutes, that’s always been good for her. I thought her and Unique [Drake] fought valiantly for us.”
Townsend also found her rhythm in the second half, hitting two more threes and picking up three defensive rebounds in the final two quarters.
The third quarter came to a close with Creighton’s third consecutive buzzer beater, coming once again off the hands of Mogensen, this time a three pointer as the clock ticked to zero.
The fourth quarter saw the Jays take advantage of their large lead to get valuable playing time for their underclassmen, as Creighton emptied the bench and was slightly outscored in the final frame to make the final score 67-56.
Creighton improved to 1-1 in Big East play and 10-2 on the season following the win. The Jays will return to Sokol to host the high-powered No. 15 UConn Huskies on Jan. 3 at 6 p.m. in their first game of the new year after a pair of slow-paced matchups to end 2023.
“[The Huskies] are basically playing three point guards,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “Paige Bueckers was their point guard, Nika Mühl last year was their point guard, and now KK Arnold, their freshman guard, plays a lot of point, so they can really push the ball. Transition defense will be huge… so that will be an adjustment.”