Bluejays make it a three-game sweep of Wildcats
Creighton Quotes Villanova Quotes
By Jack McCarthy
Special to
BigEast.com
CHICAGO — Creighton completed a clean sweep of Villanova with a 57-48 Big East tournament quarterfinals victory over the Wildcats on Sunday
The No. 7 seed Bluejays (16-16) advanced to Monday’s semifinals at DePaul’s McGrath-Phillips Arena as guard MC McGrory scored a game-high 20 points while guard Sydney Lamberty collected 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Lauren Works added 10 points off the bench in a result that really wasn’t an upset despite the seeding disparity.
The victory was Creighton’s third straight over Villanova, including two regular season triumphs.
No. 2 seed Villanova (19-11) was paced by forward Samantha Wilkes’ 18 points.
Guard Alex Louin’s baseline 3-pointer with 3:02 left in the third gave Villanova a brief lead at 35-34. But Creighton closed the quarter with six unanswered points for a 40-35 lead entering the final 10 minutes.
The Bluejays maintained an edge through the final period and played the final two minutes with six- to seven-point leads as Villanova failed to close the gap.
Creighton never trailed in the opening half. Guard Jade Owens scored eight points as the Bluejays claimed a 27-21 lead by intermission.
Villanova tied for second with Seton Hall with a 12-6 Big East regular season record but earned the No. 2 seed on a tie-breaker.
The Bluejays tied for seventh in the conference with an 8-10 record.
The Wildcats had a first-round bye while the Bluejays advanced with Saturday’s 70-53 victory over Providence behind Audrey Faber’s 16 points and eight rebounds.
Creighton meets the winner of Sunday’s Seton Hall-Marquette clash at 3 p.m. Monday.