– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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UNCASVILLE, CONNECTICUT — Upon returning to the Big East Conference, the Connecticut Huskies saw a league supposedly bereft of the schools that gave Geno Auriemma’s squads a legitimate workout, from Muffet McGraw’s Notre Dame teams taking residence in the ACC to C. Vivian Stringer’s hard-nosed defensive-minded squads bolting with the school to the Big Ten before UConn’s return.
In stepped Jim Flanery and the Creighton Bluejays into the void, and they have done a more than admirable job in giving the Huskies a harder time than most amongst the league’s contenders. They’ll now get another shot at the Big East leviathan, and with a championship at stake.
Creighton, the No. 2 seed, moved on to the Big East Tournament championship game with a dominant 73-44 victory over third-seeded Seton Hall in the tournament semifinals inside Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday evening. The Bluejays scored the first seven points of the game, opened up a 17-point lead at the end of the first quarter, then responded once more after the Pirates cut their deficit to 11 at halftime.
Lauren Jensen and Morgan Maly, who both just went over the 2,000-point mark in their careers in Omaha, combined for 33 points against the Pirates, with Jensen leading the Bluejays with 19. Those two players have been the cornerstones for Coach Flanery, who led the Blue Jays to three consecutive 15-win campaigns in Big East play before setting the school record for wins in Big Easy play with a 16-2 mark this season. Though both of those losses came against the Huskies, the Bluejays have showed over the past few seasons with Jensen and Maly that they can keep up with Connecticut, especially on the road. In the 2022 season, Creighton lost by only eight in Storrs, 63-55, and the following year, the Bluejays held a 10-point third-quarter lead before finally succumbing 62-60 after Jensen missed the first of two free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining with a chance to send the game into overtime.
Now Jensen and Maly have one last chance to knock out the Huskies, who did their part to set up the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup after taking out fifth-seeded Villanova 82-54.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday’s semifinal games, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 44 pictures in total.
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