Jones leads No. 2 Stanford women past No. 21 Creighton

Updated Dec. 21, 2022 12:13 a.m. ET

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Haley Jones had 16 points and eight assists, freshman Talana Lepolo scored a season-best 17 and No. 2 Stanford beat 21st-ranked Creighton 72-59 on Tuesday night for its seventh straight victory.

Cameron Brink added 14 points and 16 rebounds in the final non-conference game for the Cardinal (12-1) ahead of their Pac-12 opener Friday at Maples Pavilion against rival California.

Stanford’s lone defeat was a 76-71 overtime loss Nov. 20 to No. 1 South Carolina, the defending NCAA champion.

Lauren Jensen scored 18 points to lead cold-shooting Creighton (8-3), held to 36% from the field in the first meeting between the programs.

Emma Ronsiek added 11 points for the Bluejays, who have dropped three of four. They were coming off an 83-75 loss to No. 17 Arkansas in which Creighton went just 8 of 35 on 3-pointers and then fell five places in this week's AP Top 25.

Stanford made five of its first seven shots to jump ahead in a hurry 13-5, with Lepolo making her initial three 3s. But the Cardinal hit a field goal drought of nearly six minutes, missing seven straight shots during a 2-for-12 stretch in the fourth quarter as Creighton threatened.

Bluejays leading scorer Morgan Maly — who along with three others at 6-foot-1 are the team's tallest players — was held to nine points on 3-for-14 shooting, 3 of 10 from deep.

Creighton went without a field goal for 3:20 in the second quarter after a 3-pointer at the 9:49 mark by Maly, who was averaging 17.7 points per game.

BIG PICTURE

Creighton: This has been quite a non-conference stretch of big tests for the Bluejays, who face three straight ranked opponents — with UConn up next — and four in six games overall. ... Creighton, which used a late 8-0 run to make things interesting, shot 20 for 56 overall and 9 of 31 on 3s (29%). ... The Bluejays outrebounded Arkansas 46-36 but were pounded on the boards in this game, 15-2 in the first quarter, 26-8 by halftime and 50-25 overall. ... Creighton limited its turnovers to six, four through three quarters.

Stanford: Hannah Jump went 0 of 5 from long range for the most 3-point misses in her career and her first game without making one since an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game vs. Texas last March. ... Stanford took charge with a 27-point first quarter. ... The Cardinal went 0 for 5 from deep in the second quarter. ... Brink, who matched her career high with six blocks in Sunday's 77-70 win against Tennessee, swatted two more to give her 41 through the first 13 games. ... Stanford got better all-around production a game after the players other than Brink, Jones and Jump shot just 6 for 24.

UP NEXT

Creighton: Hosts No. 9 Connecticut on Dec. 28.

Stanford: Hosts Cal on Friday afternoon.

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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

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