Seton Hall handed first Big East loss by Creighton in heavyweight conference showdown

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — In a battle of unbeaten Big East teams Saturday, Creighton edged Seton Hall, 72-64. The Saturday afternoon game at Walsh Gymnasium saw the visiting Bluejays improve to 14-3 overall, and 6-0 in league play, while Seton Hall dropped to 12-4 and 4-1, respectively.

Points of emphasis:

Morgan Maly came up big: The 6-foot-1 senior led Creighton, and all scorers, with 23 points. Maly also

buried two three-pointers in the waning moments of regulation that both coach Jim Flanery of Creighton and Seton Hall’s Tony Bozzella agreed were daggers. Maly also had a vital contribution in the way she helped the Bluejays handle Seton Hall’s pressure.

“Morgan helped in the backcourt a great deal against the press,” Flanery said. “If you told me three or four years ago Morgan would have helped to break the press, I would have fallen over. That’s a testament to how far she’s come as a decision maker.”

For the game, Creighton had 11 turnovers, an

excellent 15 percent turnover rate. Seton Hall has forced opponents into at least 20 turnovers ten times this season. The Bluejays also led in points off turnovers, 14-9.

Another tough Big East matchup: “It was very

competitive, we ran out to lead and they made a run,” Flanery said.

Creighton led 39-27 at halftime. The Bluejays scored the first five points after the break to increase the difference to 17. The Pirates immediately responded with a 7-2 run. Creighton would respond by pushing the lead back to 10 early in the fourth period. Once again, the Pirates would respond, cutting the deficit to two with just over two minutes remaining. Maly would can her first of her two crucial threes from there as Creighton was able to close it out.

Seton Hall gave a valiant effort: “Without

(Savannah) Catalon, they were still difficult to guard,” Flanery praised. “(Faith) Masonius (Seton Hall’s leading scorer, with 18 points) just gave us fits inside.”

“Down two starters (Catalon and Shailyn Pinkney),”

Bozzella said, “we didn’t give up. You can’t turn the

ball over six times in the first period like we did.”

For the game, the Pirates were guilty of 12 turnovers, a still credible 15 percent turnover rate.

Bozzella was asked if there was a concentration on

Creighton’s three-point shooting. The Bluejays lead

the Big East with a 37 percent mark from three.

“Our goal coming in was getting the advantage in points in the paint,” Bozzella said. Seton Hall did just that, 38-34. “Unfortunately, we gave up some easy layups late in the second period.”

The last two conference games saw Seton Hall win

a pair of one-possession games. There was the 56-55 victory over Villanova on New Year’s Day, and most recently, an overtime victory last Saturday against Georgetown.

“We need these games,” Bozzella said. “Even our earlier wins over Providence and Butler were, for the most part, close games.” No excuses, but Bozzella said, “we’ve had injuries and setbacks we haven’t experienced the last few seasons.”

With still a good portion of conference play remaining, Bozzella promised, “if we do the things we are good at, we’ll be good.”

Honors: Faith Masonius was named Big East Player of the Week and one of five USBWA Players of the Week the previous Monday. On the same day, Jada Eads, an 11-point scorer against Creighton, was cited Big East Freshman of the Week for the third time this year.

Several options: The Bluejays showed how dangerous a team they are, given several different

options in the lineup.

“Molly (Mogensen, 18 points, six assists) was great, Flanery said. “Mogensen’s and Maly’s contributions were essential given the fact Lauren Jensen struggled. It didn’t feel like Lauren was in rhythm and she was kind of forcing some stuff.”

Jensen, a senior guard and Creighton’s leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, finished with nine points on 3-of-14 shooting from the floor.

“She gets a good defender every night,” Flanery added. “She needs to get her confidence back to where it should be.”

Style: Creighton’s offense features a series of on and off-ball screens, backdoor cuts and ball reversals. It reminds a number of observers of the Princeton offense. Flanery has no name for his very efficient offense, which measures a 106 efficiency good enough for 28th-best in the nation to date, but the coach did shed some light on it Saturday.

“We do a lot of shooting drills, moving shooting drills,” he said. “It’s less structured than people think. It’s not five-out or Princeton. It’s much simpler, we play positionless, we can just plug and play. I don’t have to say, ‘she’s our three and she’s our four, and we have only two fours.’ That’s not the case. I mean, it gives you a lot of flexibility.”

Notes: In a 69-possession contest, Creighton held a

104-93 edge in offensive efficiency. Creighton also shot 47 percent, including 36 percent (8-of-22) from three-point range. Seton Hall checked in at 38 percent with a 15 percent (3-for-20) performance

from long distance. The Pirates won the battle of the boards by a 39-34 count. Molly Mogensen of Creighton pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Faith Masonius, Yaya Lops and Kaydan Lawson had six each to pace Seton Hall. Masonius also handed out a team-high five assists.

Bluejays are road warriors: “Seven road wins this

season and we’re tied for the most road win in the

country over the last three years,” Flanery said. “We

play a lot of road games partly because we can’t get

buy games.”

Next up for Seton Hall is a visit to Marquette on

Wednesday. Creighton hosts DePaul next Saturday.