STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Stanford coach Tara VanDerver was hoping to give her starters some rest and give her reserves a few minutes before conference play. That seemed possible until Creighton pulled away 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 its seventh straight victory.
Cameron Brink added 14 points and 16 rebounds in the last non-conference game for the Cardinal (12-1) before their Pac-12 opener against rival California on Friday at Maples Pavilion.
“I was really anxious to try to give some guys some minutes that hadn’t played, maybe in the Tennessee game, to give them a chance and maybe we just lost our focus a little bit,” VanDerver 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 shot 36 percent from the field in the first meeting between the programs.
Emma Ronsiek added 11 points for the Bluejays, who dropped four to three. They were coming off an 83-75 loss to No. 17 Arkansas, in which Creighton was just 8 of 35 from 3-point range, then dropped five spots in this week’s AP top 25.
Stanford made five of its first seven shots to jump out to a 13-5 lead, with LePolo making 3 of its initial three. But the Cardinal went on a nearly six-minute field goal drought, missing seven straight shots during a 2-for-12 stretch in the fourth quarter as Creighton threatened.
VanDerveer was pleased with the defense setting the tone in the first quarter, as well as LePolo’s hot hand on a night when Hannah Jump didn’t hit from deep.
LePolo understood that Creighton’s scouting report “was to let me go.”
“I see T stay in and work every day,” Jones said of LePolo. “On the first miss (pass) I said, ‘Hit the ball.’
Bluejays leading scorer Morgan Malley, who along with three others are the team’s tallest players at 6-foot-1, had 9 points on 3-for-14 shooting, 3-of-10 from deep.
Creighton went without a field goal with 3:20 left in the second quarter after a 3-pointer by Mali, who averaged 17.7 points per game, at 9:49.
BIG PICTURE
Creighton. It’s been quite a non-conference test for the Bluejays, who face three straight ranked opponents, followed by UConn, and four of six games overall. … Creighton, which used a late 8-0 run to make things interesting, made 20 shots for 56 overall and was 9-of-31 on 3s (29%). … The Bluejays outrebounded Arkansas 46-36, but were outshot on the boards in this 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 to No. 1 South Carolina, the defending NCAA champion, on Nov. 20. … Went 0-of-5 from long range in his first game without making a 3 since last March’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game against Texas. … Stanford took over with a 27-point first quarter. … The Cardinal went 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, had two more to give him 41 in the first 13 games. … Stanford got better overall production after players other than Brink, Jones and Jump went just 6-for-24.
NEXT
Creighton: host No. 9 Connecticut on Dec. 28.
Stanford. hosts Cal on Friday afternoon.
___
AP Women’s College Basketball. https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Comments