Omaha – No. 20 Creighton jumped to a 22-11 first-quarter lead and never looked back, as the No. 22 Nebraska women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season with a 77-51 setback at D.J. Sokol Arena on Tuesday night.
In the first matchup of top-25 teams in the 48-game history of the Nebraska-Creighton series, Nebraska (2-1) could not get untracked in its first road contest of the season, falling to the Bluejays (3-0) in their home opener in front of a school-record crowd of 2,306.
Junior guard Jaz Shelley led the Huskers with 14 points, while sophomore center Alexis Markowski added a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but the Huskers hit just 31 percent (18-58) of its shots from the field as a team. NU also connected on just 27.8 percent (5-18) of its three-pointers, while going 10-of-15 at the free throw line.
Nebraska won the rebounding battle 41-39, but the Huskers committed a season-high 18 turnovers while forcing just nine miscues by the Jays. On the flip side, CU hit 44.8 percent (30-67) of its shots from the floor, including 11-of-24 threes (.458). Creighton also hit 6-of-10 free throws.
Molly Mogensen led Creighton with a career-high 22 points, with 19 of those coming in the first half. Mogensen got 10 points in the second quarter alone, pushing CU’s margin to 45-28 at halftime.
Morgan Maly added 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Jays, while Carly Bachelor contributed 15 points, six rebounds and a game-high four steals. Lauren Jensen put four Jays in double figures with 13 points and a game-high seven assists.
Nebraska tried to rally in the third quarter, winning the period 16-15 including a 6-0 surge to close out the quarter, but the Big Red was unable to maintain momentum into the fourth, as CU opened the period on an 8-0 run of its own.
The Huskers return to road action on Saturday, taking on Drake in Des Moines. The Bulldogs are coming off a 92-86 overtime loss to No. 4 Iowa and are receiving votes in the Associated Press Poll. Tip-off between Nebraska and Creighton is set for 2 p.m. at the Knapp Center
