Creighton Women top Northern Iowa

November 30th, 2020 | Beth Rogers

Cedar Falls, Iowa — The improvement from game one was obvious, but a 25-point second quarter wasnt enough for the win as the Creighton womens basketball team fell to Northern Iowa 55-52 on Saturday, Nov. 28.

The loss dropped the Bluejays to 0-2 on the season, while Northern Iowa moved to 1-1.

After a forgettable opening frame that saw Creighton shoot 2-of-19 from the field (10.5%), freshman Molly Mogensen delivered a spark for her team with seven points and three assists to help Creighton claim its first lead.

Trailing 16-5 with 1:48 remaining the Bluejays went on an 18-0 run over the next 7:05 to streak out to a 23-16 advantage (4:43 left in the second). Junior Rachael Saunders started the Bluejay streak with a layup to close the first quarter, but the real spark came from Mogensen. The Minnesota native factored in Creightons next 16 points, hitting a pair of buckets to start the second, then dishing out an assist for a trey from fellow freshman Morgan Maly to get Creighton within a point at 16-15 (7:38).

Fittingly it was another bucket from Mogensen that gave Creighton its first lead (17-16 with 6:58 remaining). She went on to dish out assists to Saunders and senior Temi Carda to push Creighton to the 23-16 edge. The Bluejays went on to shoot 10-of-18 (55.6%) from the field in the second quarter, taking a 32-27 lead in at the break.

Early in the third quarter the Bluejays got an interior jumper from sophomore Mykel Parham as well as two from the charity stripe by Saunders to extend their lead to 36-27 (7:36). Despite struggling from the field the remainder of the frame (2-of-10), the Bluejays and Panthers were tied at 41-41 heading to the fourth.

A seesaw final quarter saw Northern Iowa score first on a layup by Megan Maahs, then Bluejay sophomore Carly Bachelor answered with a layup of her own with 8:10 left. Creightons reclaimed the lead at 46-45 moments later as Mogensen knocked down a trey from the top of the key (7:09). Four straight points by the Panthers, put Creighton down 49-46, yet a pair of free throws from Carda made it a one point affair with 3:48 on the clock.

Down the stretch the more experienced Panthers pushed their lead out to 54-48 with 48 seconds remaining, but the Bluejays had one final push. An bucket down low from Bachelor followed by a defensive stop and two free throws from Mogensen made it 54-52 with 13 seconds left. Following a timeout from Northern Iowa, an apparent steal was called for the Panthers. Northern Iowa hit one of two from the charity stripe, giving the Bluejays a chance to tie with nine seconds left. Without a timeout Creighton needed to go the length of the court and a missed shot left Creighton on the short side.

Mogensen led Creighton with 12 points, while Carda and Saunders each finished with 11. Northern Iowa got a team-high 12 points from Karli Rucker.

Creighton continues the two-game road trip on Monday, Nov. 30 as the Bluejays battle South Dakota State at 6:00 pm in Brookings.

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