BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2025

Jim Flanery

Kiani Lockett

Lauren Jensen

Mohegan Sun Arena

Creighton Bluejays

Postgame Media Conference

Creighton 72, Georgetown 70

THE MODERATOR: Joining us from Creighton, Head Coach Jim Flanery, student-athletes, Kiani Lockett and Lauren Jensen. We'll begin with an opening statement from Coach.

JIM FLANERY: Huge credit to Georgetown. I thought they brought the fight tonight. I thought for two and a half quarters they played really well. Really, really well. Made some ridiculous shots.

Our defense could have been better, I thought, but I thought down the stretch we just really fought. We had different people step up. Kiani and Mal made some huge plays in that fourth quarter. I said it's a testament to Lauren and Morgan that they had 42 points between them tonight.

But we get in the locker room and we're talking about the plays that Mal and Kiani made, which were really, really important. But we're not in that position if those guys don't go for 42.

I thought Georgetown -- they're tough to play from behind. I thought they tried to control the tempo once they got ahead. We just hung in there. I think it got to 12 in the third quarter. I know Matt will know that, but I know it was 10.

Yeah, we just kept fighting, made plays. We're really proud of our group. That was an exhilarating game. I'm really happy with that, and I think it helps us. When you play a game like that, it's going to help you going forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. I guess for the players, this is nothing new for you in this arena in this tournament. Just pretty much thrillers. I guess how much did your experience in kind of those do-or-die, down-to-the-stretch games that you guys have played in the past prepare you to kind of handle the pressure of the moment of what that was like down the stretch for how chaotic it got?

LAUREN JENSEN: Like you said, we've been here before. I think every quarter-final game we've been a part of has been a battle. And like Flan said, Georgetown played great tonight. Just leaning on that experience, I always believed that we were going to come out on top. We kept fighting. We were right there the whole game and just kept chipping away. That's what good teams do.

We definitely leaned into our experience in that.

Q. Kiani, I think you missed some clutch free-throws against St. John's in the last game and stayed late with Reese after the game shooting. I guess how ready for the moment were you tonight when you had to step up and win the game at the free-throw line with the whole world watching you?

KIANI LOCKETT: Yeah. Those two free-throws at St. John's really had me mentally kind of messed up. I know those were big free-throws to put us ahead by, I think, four at the time maybe.

I just knew I've been practicing. I've been in the gym. I stay after practice every practice and make five free-throws in a row. I think when I got up there today, it was kind of just like practice and not thinking too big of the moment, so yeah.

Q. Lauren, you've seen a lot of Kelsey Ransom the last few years. Run me through how fun that is to go head-to-head with two of you guys that have bright futures. Must be a lot of fun to be challenged like that.

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah, she's a great player. So explosive, so athletic. She makes tough shots. I think, what, she had a lot of assists tonight too, rebounds. She does everything. Yeah, it's been fun going head-to-head with her. It always is playing great players like that.

Yeah, it's going to be kind of sad a little bit to not have another matchup with her in college, but who knows, maybe we'll see each other at the next level.

Q. Who was dancing in the locker room post-game?

KIANI LOCKETT: Allison Heathcock. She was dancing a little bit. Then, of course, you know, Flan had to top it off with some of his dance moves. A little bit of everyone today.

JIM FLANERY: Jumping more than dancing.

Q. First of all, calling them moves is questionable. Lauren, you and Morgan kind of had to really, really step up down 12. That's a big hurdle with the way Georgetown plays and how potent they are offensively. What was kind of maybe some of the talking points you guys were going through to just go possession by possession and try to get it to a point where you could get over the hump? What were those moments like?

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah, I think, like you said, it was really just one possession at a time. Honestly the focus for us was more defensively this game.

We obviously paid attention to our offense, but that wasn't really a problem. I know we got some good looks that we were missing, but you can't always control that. So we knew we had to lock in, get stops, and that our offense was going to take care of itself.

Q. Last year's game seemed to maybe frustrate you guys, and then it kind of spiralled out of control. It seemed like that could have happened again today. How do you think it didn't? Why do you think it didn't?

KIANI LOCKETT: Yeah, I think we have been doing a lot of situational stuff in practice, and I think that has helped us, especially going against our practice guys and stuff.

I think just being, all of us, a year older. It's the fifth years like last year, and we don't want to go out how we did last year. I think just staying composed and staying within ourselves, I think, helps us a lot during these games.

Q. Mallory's defense, it seemed like -- I mean, Flan was probably doing a good job of keeping offense/defense substitutions going. But Mallory, with 6'4" Jenkins, and sometimes she was guarding Ransom, but just staying active. And then the pick six to give you the lead finally was massive. What do you guys make of kind of just her ability to kind of be brave and make plays defensively?

LAUREN JENSEN: Mal is so huge for us making plays like that. She gives us energy. She will lock in on defense. She'll rebound. She'll just be gritty. She did all of that tonight.

I mean, her impact -- same with Kiani's impact on the defensive end. I mean, we all locked in. But those two were super gritty. They were guarding Ransom most of the time, making life tough, making plays on defense. That's what got us back in the game.

It's definitely huge not only in this game, but this whole season she's been doing that.

THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Just bouncing off kind of Mallory's play-making, I think she had a couple deflections besides the pick six, but obviously the pick six was the culminating play of her fourth quarter defensively. I know it's hard to recall, especially in a thriller like that, but what did you see from her and kind of her will to not let you guys go down tonight?

JIM FLANERY: Yeah, she made some big plays. I didn't realize she had three blocks until I just looked now. Four steals and three blocks. You think about that.

Like you said, the biggest play of the game was the pick six. Honestly, in the second quarter when we gave up 30, I kept telling myself, I should probably put Mal back in. We're struggling defensively, but I'm wired more offense. You know me. I'm wired a little more offensively.

I think you look back as a coach and say, I got to be better at making sure. Because if you look at what Ransom did as a distributor, facilitator in that first half, I think she had eight of her -- seven of her ten assists or eight of her ten assists were in the first half. And part of that is she was getting downhill against smaller players. We had to collapse. Wilson hit a couple of threes. McBride hit one.

Yeah, I think I probably underplayed her in that second quarter. But, you know, I credit my staff. They were in my ear about the energy plays that she was making in the fourth quarter. Because, again, I'm looking at the score, and I'm thinking, okay, we need Jayme maybe for offense, but just Mal, the offensive rebound piece too.

Yeah, credit to her. She just finds ways a lot of times to help us win games, and tonight she was huge.

Q. I know with a veteran team, you have an expectation that they're going to be ready for the moment, that they're going to be poised, that they're going to do the right things when they need to do them. But last year was an uncharacteristic meltdown in the semifinals against this team. It seemed like the recipe was there for it to happen again. From that standpoint, how impressed are you with this group's ability to kind of learn from last year and not let it spiral when it could have tonight?

JIM FLANERY: Yeah, I mean, it was a little different game. Last year was such a grinder. It was so low-scoring. I felt like this game was a little bit more -- we were scoring a little bit easier. If you look at the first half, we shot almost 50%, made five threes, and only had two turnovers. It's not our offense.

Again, part of that was a testament to them. They threw in to make three at the end of the half. When Rivera hit that three at the end of the shot clock from 28 feet in the third quarter, I just was, like -- might have been the fourth quarter even -- you know, you are just like, geez, it's their night. But I thought we just dug in.

Yeah, I just thought we stayed composed. I thought probably more so. Again, I think our ability to play off of Morgan and Lauren is impressive. I think Jayme can come in and do what she does.

Yeah, I'm really pleased because I felt like -- I felt like we were ready to play. I thought we got off to a good start. You're always worried -- when the other team has played the night before, you're worried that your nerves are going to be a little bit higher than theirs because they got to play last night. I didn't think we showed nerves early, but I just thought they played really well.

Again, I think our one-on-one defense wasn't great for the first half, but I thought we were better in the second half with one-on-one defense and then getting -- rebounding. Jenkins is a beast to try to block out. She's just bigger and stronger, and I thought there were many times where we did our job, and she still got the rebound.

We hung in there. Like I said, this will serve us well.

Q. I know you've said a lot -- I mean, almost everything that can be said about Lauren and Morgan, but there's only one player left on the scoring chart that's ahead of Morgan after tonight. Lauren tied Connie when she tied it at 68. They're both 2,000 point scorers comfortably now in CU uniforms. Also, I mean, on the rebounding part of it, Lauren got one which she was laying on her back. They were fighting down there. What did you make of your two stars just playing like stars, especially when you were down ten still late in the third and just taking over?

JIM FLANERY: Yeah, to think that we won that game only making one three in the second half, I think is, again, a testament to toughness and how good those two are. Morgan was -- I thought she took one. She settled one time in the mid-post, I thought. She had Ryan on her and took kind of a quick fade-away. Other than that, I thought she really tried to attack in the second half.

Then Lauren didn't make threes tonight, but she got us 22 points. So that's experience, that's confidence, that's just the work that they've put in.

Yeah, like I said, we were all celebrating the plays that Kiani and Mal made, but we're not in that position if those guys aren't as good as they are and don't show up at the level that they did tonight.

Q. Kiani missed the clutch free-throws against St. John's. She did stay after with Reese, which can go either of two ways. Those are not pressure free-throws when you're shooting them after the game. But tonight, you are down four, she draws the foul, hits both of those. You're tied. Final seconds, she draws the foul, hits both of those. What did you make of her ability to shake off a recent bad one and be poised and knock down clutch ones today?

JIM FLANERY: You're happy for her. I think it helped that she made her first two. She was 6 for 6. So she made her first two. You go into those two, when you're down four, knowing you've made a couple, which I think helps.

Yeah, our kids are really good about that. They're really good about -- good and bad. They feel too bad about letting their team down sometimes, so they're right back in the gym. But that's what you want. Yeah, really happy for her.

To hit both of them at the end too. Because if you hit one, that last possession plays out potentially a little different. You're just a little more comfortable being up two instead of one. Because really with that little time left, we weren't probably going to be able to get anything if they did score. Yeah, those were big.

Q. Then my last one. Strategically they called a time-out and set up what they were doing. You get to look at how they're aligned. Call the other time-out to put your final defense together. What were you hoping to take away, and how do you think you executed those last 4.7 seconds defensively?

JIM FLANERY: As much as possible we wanted Mal to stay on Ransom unless she came past the top of the key. So we were kind of specific. As soon as they came out, Mike drew up where they were.

I just said, look, I think she's going to reject and try to catch the ball lower on the floor, foul-linish. If that's the case, we want Mal on her. Mal, just play under her, expect her to not come high. If she does come high, then we're fine with the switch. But I didn't want Ransom bullying Lauren or Molly or Kiani on a lower switch where she could get downhill.

Then I wasn't sure if Jenkins was just going to be on the weak side to put it back. Because they switched her position, I feel like, when they came back out of the time-out.

Yeah, that's what we wanted was Mal underneath the 3-point line on her, and anything outside we wanted to just push them out and fight the dribble.

I can't remember exactly how it played out. I know Rivera had it and took the one dribble. But yeah, I regretted probably a couple of times not using time-outs, but then when we had them all at the end I thought that was helpful.