Iowa City, Iowa -- Sophomore Lauren Jensen's three-pointer with 12.6 seconds left helped the Creighton women's basketball team clinch a trip to its first Sweet 16 in program history with a 64-62 win at No. 8 Iowa on Sunday, March 20. The BIG EAST's Co-Most Improved player after transferring in from the Iowa program a year ago, Jensen scored nine of Creighton's 13 points in the fourth quarter as the Bluejays ended the game on a 6-0 run in the final 85 seconds.

With the victory, Creighton (22-9) advances to next Friday's Regional Semifinal in Greensboro, N.C., where it will take on the winner of tonight's Iowa State/Georgia match-up. A game time and network coverage for that contest would be announced on Monday evening.

Creighton opened the game with three consecutive lay-ups, including a pair from sophomore Emma Ronsiek, before back-to-back three-pointers from senior Payton Brotzki helped the Bluejays to a 12-11 lead. CU led 17-15 after six minutes, owning a 9-1 rebounding advantage. CU maintained the lead for the majority of the quarter and a triple from Jensen in the closing seconds put the Bluejays in front 23-17.  Creighton outrebounded Iowa 17-5 in the quarter and owned an 11-0 lead in second chance points.

The Bluejays kept up the pressure in the second quarter, stretching the lead to 33-23 with 6:41 left in the quarter following a 5-0 run. CU's biggest lead of the second quarter was 38-26 with 1:55 left after a pair of free throws by Morgan Maly, but the Hawkeyes closed out the quarter on a  6-0 run to cut the Bluejay lead to 38-32 at the half.

Brotzki led Creighton with 11 points in the opening half, while Maly contributed eight points and seven rebounds off the bench. The Bluejays made 8-of-23 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes and led the board battle 29-15. CU led 10-2 in bench points, as well. Iowa was paced by 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting from Monika Czinano while NCAA scoring and assist leader Caitlin Clark contributed 11 points and seven assists.

The Hawkeyes opened the second half on a 6-2 run to get within two at 40-38, only to come up empty on two chances to score before an Emma Ronsiek lay-up temporarily quieted the sellout crowd of 14,382. The Bluejays would take a 51-48 lead into the fourth quarter despite Czinano's 10 points in the quarter that gave her 25 overall.

Clark connected on a pair of free throws to start the fourth quarter and missed a driving lay-up that could have given the Hawkeyes their first lead since the third minute. The Bluejays responded with a lay-up by Tatum Rembao and a free throw by Ronsiek to return the lead to 54-50. Iowa got back-to-back three-pointers by Gabbie Marshall to take a 56-54 lead with 6:51 left. A lay-up by Czinano with 5:31 remaining gave Iowa its biggest lead at 58-54 and prompted a timeout from CU coach Jim Flanery to slow Iowa's 8-0 run.

Lauren Jensen drove through traffic with the shot clock winding down the halve the Hawkeye edge. CU missed layups on its next two possessions before Katie Martin made a layup of her own to return the Iowa advantage to 60-56 with just over three minutes remaining before a Jensen pull-up jumper with 2:46 left got CU within two points. After another Bluejay miss, McKenna Warnock's putback with 1:36 left returned the Hawkeye lead to four (62-58). Jensen's driving hoop with 1:26 left got the Jays back within two, but a driving lay-up by CU was off the mark once again with just under a minute remaining.

CU got a stop and Rembao fed Jensen at the top of the key, who buried a go-ahead three-pointer with 12.6 left. The Hawkeyes went to their National Player of the Year candidate Clark, who missed a lay-up and Mogensen grabbed the rebound. Iowa had two fouls to give before hacking Ronsiek with 3.6 left. She made the second shot and Iowa called timeout to advance the ball.

Down two, the Hawkeyes fed Czinano in the paint, who missed a turnaround jumper. Warnock's tip-in try also fell short as the Creighton bench stormed the court in celebration at the final horn.

Czinano scored a gme-high 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting for Iowa.The nation's leading scorer with 27.4 points per game, Clark was limited to a season-low 15 on 4-of-19 shooting and just four free throws in the second half, though the All-American did contribute team-highs with 11 assists and eight rebounds.

Jensen scored nine of CU's final 10 points to lead the Bluejays with a team-high 19., while Brotzki and Ronisek each scored 13. Ronsiek added 10 rebounds for second double-double of the season, and Maly snared a career-best 13 boards. The Bluejays shot 35.8 percent overall and drained 10 three-pointers, with Jensen's game-winner being the only make of the final quarter. CU won the rebound battle 52-37 and outscored the Hawkeye bench 15-4.

NOTES: Creighton made a three-pointer for the 452nd straight game ...  With 15 assists on Sunday, Creighton took over the national lead with 636 to surpass Oklahoma (627) for the top spot. The Sooners are to play later on Sunday night ... Sophomore Morgan Maly finished with a career-high 13 rebounds  ... Tatum Rembao (190) passed Mindy Hendrickson (188) for second on Creighton's single-season assist list with five helpers on Sunday ... Creighton improved to 7-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament play while making its eighth appearance ... It's the first time that Creighton has won consecutive NCAA Tournament games ... Creighton improved to 2-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes in the NCAA Tournament, having also beaten Iowa 76-70 on March 17, 2018 ... Creighton improved to 20-4 this season when leading at halftime.