The usually high-flying offense of the No. 2 Creighton Bluejays was grounded by No. 6 Georgetown’s suffocating defense in the Big East semifinals as Creighton fell to the Hoyas, 55-46.
Creighton entered the game coming off a come-from-behind victory over Seton Hall, while Georgetown had just won on back-to-back nights, including a dominant upset over St. John’s in which the Hoyas didn’t give up a layup in the first 27 minutes of the game.
Senior forward Morgan Maly got things started for the Jays with 4 early points, and a three-pointer from sophomore guard Kiani Lockett, playing in just her second game after returning from injury, set the Bluejays up with a 3-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but the writing was on the wall for what was to come. The team shot just 1/8 from beyond the arc and senior forward Emma Ronsiek, the team’s second-leading scorer, attempted just one field goal in the quarter.
The Hoyas took over in the second and never looked back. Maly kept pace, scoring 8 points to keep Creighton in the game, but both Jensen and Ronsiek were held scoreless and the team shot just 25% from the field as the Georgetown offense got hot. Senior guard Alexis Cowan hit a pair of threes to push her team past Creighton headed into halftime, as Georgetown took a 26-23 lead into the locker room.
Georgetown dominated the boards in the fist half, as senior forward Graceann Bennett picked up seven rebounds and senior guard Kelsey Ransom picked up two of the team’s nine offensive rebounds, which the Hoyas converted into 9 points.
Georgetown exploded out of halftime with a 10-0 run to put the Hoyas up 36-23. Desperate for an answer, Creighton head coach Jim Flanery pulled his starters out of the game and brought in the bench unit, including freshmen forwards McKayla Miller and Brittany Harshaw.
The freshmen provided the spark Flanery was looking for, as Harshaw went for 8 points and the group locked down on the other end, led defensively by Lockett, to bring the Bluejays back within 7.
“I think there’s a different mindset when you haven’t gotten to play a lot and you get an opportunity to play, there’s a hunger there,” Flanery said of the young bench unit. “I think today’s a good reminder that I can trust them and I think it’s a good reminder to our starting group that they’re not in a position that they can’t be replaced.”
The bench forced Georgetown into a one-second shot clock situation as they knocked a ball out of bounds and Flanery decided it was time to bring the starters back in.
The decision immediately seemed to backfire, as Ronsiek fouled Bembry on the inbounds pass, allowing Georgetown to extend its lead before the end of the quarter.
The starters stayed in to start the fourth, but just couldn’t get anything going offensively, as they missed ten consecutive shots from the field to start the quarter. Both teams got scrappy and physical late as the Jays tried to climb back in it, ultimately leading to a pileup on the floor for a loose ball which saw junior Georgetown forward Brianna Scott injure her knee.
The Hoyas made their free throws down the stretch to ice the game and take home a 55-46 victory over Creighton and advance to their first ever Big East championship game against UConn, with a chance to gain an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We’ve had this in the forefront of our minds, setting the tone for each practice is our shared goal of wanting to be in the tournament,” Bennett said. “We’ve been envisioning this for months, and we’re really excited for the opportunity to make it a reality.”
Ronsiek ended the night without a single made field goal, scoring just 4 points on free throws, while Jensen was held to two points through the first 38 minutes of the game.
“Kids get a little mental and I think she came off a game where she didn’t put it in the basket and she had a basket disallowed early,” Flanery said of Ronsiek, who struggled to score the previous day against Seton Hall as well. “I don’t know if she got shy, but she fought foul trouble the last two games and I think that just changes a young person’s mindset sometimes.”
Creighton now awaits Selection Sunday on March 17, when the Jays are expected to make the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid, and will find out who they will play and where they will go.
Tournament coverage made possible by the generous support of Marty and Barbara Perry in honor of their son, Zach Perry, a 2010 Journalism graduate and Creightonian staff member.