Jones leads No. 2 Stanford women’s seed past No. 21 Creighton
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer hoped to find some rest for her starters and give the reserves longer minutes before conference play. That looked possible until Creighton got going in the second half.
Haley Jones had 16 points and eight assists in 37 minutes, freshman Talana Lepolo scored a season-best 17 and No. 2 Stanford beat No. 21 Creighton 72-59 on Tuesday night for the his seventh consecutive win.
Cameron Brink had 14 points and 16 rebounds in the last nonconference game for the Cardinal (12-1) ahead of their Pac-12 opener Friday at Maples Pavilion against rival California.
“I was really anxious to try and get some guys that hadn’t played minutes maybe in the Tennessee game to get a chance, and maybe we lost our focus a little bit,” VanDerveer said. “I’ve got to do a better job of making sure we keep our rotation where they don’t make the mistakes we did.”
Lauren Jensen scored 18 points to lead cold-shooting Creighton (8-3), which was held to 36 percent from the field in the first meeting between the programs.
Emma Ronsiek had 11 points for the Bluejays, who have lost three of four. They were coming off an 83-75 loss to No. 17 Arkansas in which Creighton went just 8-for-35 on 3-pointers and then fell five spots in this week’s AP Top 25.
Stanford made five of its first seven shots to jump ahead 13-5, with Lepolo making his first three 3s. But the Cardinal hit a nearly six-minute field goal drought, missing seven straight over a 2-for-12 stretch in the fourth quarter when Creighton was threatening.
VanDerveer was pleased with the defense that set the tone in the first quarter, along with Lepolo’s hot hand on a night when Hannah Jump didn’t hit from deep.
Lepolo thought Creighton’s scouting report was “leaving me” open.
“I see T stay and work every day,” Jones said of Lepolo. “On the first jump (pass), I said, ‘Throw the ball!'”
Bluejays leading scorer Morgan Maly, who along with three over 6-foot-1 players are the team’s tallest players, was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting, 3-of-10 from deep.
Creighton was held without a field goal for 3:20 in the second quarter after a 3-pointer at the 9:49 mark by Maly, who averaged 17.7 points per game.
BIG PICTURE
Creighton: This has been a stretch of big non-conference tests for the Bluejays, who face three ranked opponents in a row, with UConn next, and four of six games overall. … Creighton, which used a late 8-0 run to make things interesting, shot 20-for-56 overall and 9-for-31 on 3s (29 percent). … The Bluejays outshot Arkansas 46-36, but were outshot on the boards in that game, 15-2 in the first quarter, 26-8 at halftime and 50-25 overall. … Creighton limited its turnovers to six, four through three quarters.
Stanford: The team’s only loss was a 76-71 overtime loss on Nov. 20 to No. 1 South Carolina, the defending NCAA champion. … Jump was 0-for-5 from long range in his first game without a 3 since an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game against Texas last March. … Stanford took over with a 27-point first quarter. … The Cardinal were 0-for-5 from deep in the second quarter. … Brink, who matched his career high with six blocks in Sunday’s 77-70 win against Tennessee, hit two more to give him 41 in the first 13 games. … Stanford improved overall production by a game after players other than Brink, Jones and Jump shot just 6-for-24.
UNTIL THE NEXT
Creighton: Hosts No. 9 Connecticut on Dec. 28.
Stanford: Hosts Cal on Friday afternoon.
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AP Women’s College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball i https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll i https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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