Jensen has 20, Townsend has career day, No. 21 Creighton tops St. John's 67-56

Dec 31, 2023, 12:54 am

OMAHA, Neb. -- — Lauren Jensen scored 20 points, Kennedy Townsend added a career-high 14 off the bench and No. 21 Creighton eased to a 67-56 win over St. John's on Saturday.

Jensen was 7-of-10 shooting, Townsend 5 of 8 and the pair combined to go 7 of 10 on 3-pointers, to spark the Bluejays. The rest of the team was 12 of 31 overall and 3 of 14 behind the arc.

Molly Mogensen added 10 points for Creighton (10-2, 1-1 Big East Conference). Jensen had six assists, Townsend had six rebounds, also a career high, and Mallory Brake contributed four steals.

Jillian Archer had 19 points for the Red Storm (7-7, 1-1) and Unique Drake had 16. St. John's shot 41% but was 2 of 10 on 3-pointers.

Townsend converted a three-point play and had a running buzzer-beating 3-pointer t o lift the Bluejays to a 16-12 lead after one quarter. Mogensen's buzzer beater pushed the lead to 33-23 at the half.

The Red Storm got within eight twice in the third quarter but Creighton closed the period with three-straight 3s, with Mogensen's trey with 3 seconds left making it 56-41. Jensen and Townsend both had two triples, including one each in the closing flurry.

In a low scoring final quarter, St. John's never got closer than 10.

Creighton is home against No. 15 UConn on Wednesday while No. 18 Marquette is at St. John's.

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