Women's Basketball Faces #6 UCLA in NCAA Second Round

Los Angeles, Calif. - Having reached the NCAA Second Round for the seventh time, Creighton women's basketball is hungry for a second crack at the Sweet 16 in three seasons. Standing in Creighton's way are the #6 UCLA Bruins as the two squads face off at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 on Monday, March 25.

3/25: - 7:30 p.m. (CT)
#24 Creighton (26-5) at #6 UCLA (26-6)
Twitter: @GoCreighton, @CreightonWBB

TV: ESPN 2 (Kevin Fitzgerald & Kim Adams)
Online Stream - Watch ESPN: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/d9b4e75c-2a84-4969-99fb-88ee75b50f1b
Radio - 1180 AM: https://player.listenlive.co/52381
Stat Broadcast: https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=crei

Series with UCLA: Bruins Lead 2-0
Home: 0-0 Away: 0-1 Neutral: 0-1
Creighton and UCLA have faced off two times, both coming in the 2017-18 season. The squads met in the South Pointe Thanksgiving tournament that season in Las Vegas, then faced off in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in Pauley Pavillion. The Bruins claimed both battles.

Series Game-by-Game
Date   Opponent   Score
11/25/17   vs. UCLA (in Las Vegas)   L, 63-72
3/19/18   $ at UCLA   L, 64-86
$ = WNIT game

Scouting #24 Creighton (26-5)
Creighton enters Monday's game with UCLA looking to repeat the run in 2022 when the Bluejays upset Iowa in Carver Arena. That year Creighton made it to an Elite Eight matchup with eventual NCAA Champion South Carolina.

In the First Round win over UNLV the Bluejays returns to form with 23 assists and knocked down 15 three-pointers. In
addition Emma Ronsiek seemed to be reignited with 23 points in the second half of the win over the Lady Rebels.

The Bluejays are led by the trio of Lauren Jensen (17.1 ppg), Emma Ronsiek (16.8 ppg) and Morgan Maly (15.1 ppg), as the three combined to account for 49.0 points per game.

About UCLA

Located in Los Angeles, California.
UCLA went 27-10 last season, falling to South Carolina in the Sweet 16.
Head coach Cori Close in her 13th season at UCLA.

Scouting UCLA (26-6)
The Bruins enter Monday's contest as the favorite and have been mentioned as a team that could bring home the NCAA Championship.

UCLA, however, is beatable as questions loom about the health of starting center Lauren Betts. She missed UCLA's opening round victory over Cal Baptist and her 6-7 frame changes the matchups.

Betts leads the Bruins with 14.7 ppg and 9.0 rpg, while Charisma Osbourne brings 14.4 ppg, while Kiki Rice averages 12.9 ppg.

While Betts is important to the Bruins attack, five other UCLA players average at least 9.0 points per game.

Keys To the Game on March 25 (vs. UCLA)

Defend the Glass: UCLA averages 43.7 rebounds per game, including 15 offensive rebounds per contest. The Bluejays will need to gang rebound and prevent second chance points to stay with the Bruins.
Slow Osborne and Betts: Creighton will not be able to prevent Lauren Betts and Charisma Osborne from scoring, but making them work for each touch will be critical,
Get Early Contributions Beyond the Big Three: UCLA will undoubtedly focus on taking away one or more of Creighton's Big Three. To counter this it is important for Mogensen, Brake and the bench to contribute early points.

Soaring In (Courtesy of Rob Simms & Rob Anderson)

87 points was the most the Bluejays have scored in an NCAA game.
15 3FG made was the most Creighton has hit in an NCAA game.
Mogensen tied her career-high with nine assists, one shy of a CU NCAA-best 10 assists by Strathman in CU's first NCAA game in 1992.
Ronsiek went 9-13 FG in the 2nd half for 23 points after she had been 2-20 FG for 17 points in her previous 7 halves of basketball.
Maly (256) passed Agnew (253) in career 3FG, Maly is now 6th in CU history in 3FG made
Creighton's five losses are its fewest entering the NCAA Tournament since 1992 squad was 27-3. The team set a program record with 28 wins, finishing 28-4.
Creighton's 26 wins are the most under Flanery (previously 25-8 in 2012-13). At most, CU will finish with six losses, the fewest under Flanery.
Creighton's 82.9 free-throw percentage not only leads the NCAA, but it's the best in program history (next closest is 78.2% by the 2015-16 team) - the 4th best FT% in NCAA history.
Creighton is now 6-1 in its last seven First Round NCAA Tournament games and 9-9 overall in all rounds of NCAA Tournament action.

Women's Basketball Faces #6 UCLA in NCAA Second Round

Players Mentioned

Lauren Jensen

Morgan Maly

Emma Ronsiek

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