Jensen scores 19, No. 23 Creighton women cruise past Seton Hall to face UConn in Big East final

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Lauren Jensen scored 19 points and No. 23 Creighton cruised past Seton Hall 73-44 on Sunday in the semifinals of the Big East Conference Tournament.

The second-seeded Bluejays get a chance to avenge its only two conference losses to UConn — by 11 and 19 points — when they face the No. 3 Huskies in the championship game on Monday.

Morgan Maly added 14 points, hitting a 3-pointer in her 51-straight game, for Creighton (27-5), which had to rally from 12 down to beat Georgetown in the quarterfinals before coasting to its first title game since 2016. Kennedy Townsend had 10 points. Jensen moved into third on the Creighton career scoring list with 2,029.

Faith Masonium scored 16 for the Pirates (22-9) and Jada Eads added 11.

The Bluejays hit 5 of 7 3-pointers in the first quarter, two by Jensen who had 10 points, and raced to a 23-6 lead. The Pirates were 3 of 13 with four turnovers. The Pirates bounced back, holding Creighton to 4 of 13 shooting with six turnovers and cut the deficit to 33-22 at halftime.

Creighton was 7 of 13 behind the arc and 6 of 14 inside.

The Bluejays never hit a cold streak in the second half, shooting 57%. A 19-4 start start to the fourth quarter pushed the lead to 30.

Creighton finished 12 of 23 behind the arc and 17 of 32 from close range.

Seton Hall shot 28% for the game, going 3 of 18 from 3-point range. .

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball