Led by transfer Lauren Jensen, No. 10 Creighton enjoying role as NCAA Tournament spoiler

The No. 10-seeded Creighton Bluejays will look to add another line or two to the record books this weekend when they make their first Sweet 16 appearance in school history at the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Making its first tournament start in four years, Creighton advanced out of the second round for the first time in eight appearances with an upset win over No. 2-seed Iowa last Sunday, becoming just the fifth No. 10 seed to ever reach the Sweet 16.

Headlining the Bluejays’ squad is sophomore guard Lauren Jensen, who made the go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 64-62 on their own court. However, Jensen wasn’t exactly in unfamiliar territory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena after playing at Iowa last season.

“Obviously I’m pretty familiar with the arena because I played here all of last year, but I felt like that definitely helped,” she said. “On the flipside, there’s also some nerves with that because I’m wearing a different color this year, but I feel like it did help.”

As a freshman at Iowa last season, Jensen appeared in 17 games and scored 23 total points, while this year at Creighton, she’s made 31 starts and posted a season-high, single-game point total of 23. Twice.

“Right away from summer workouts, this team welcomed me with open arms and made me feel at home and a part of the team, and I’m just so grateful for that,” said Jensen. “To be able to do that with them here today is just so great.”

“Those last few minutes had to be magical and special, and we’re super proud of her and we’re super proud that she’s part of our program,” said Creighton coach Jim Flanery regarding his sophomore transfer.

Flanery said he was impressed right off the bat with Jensen, who would regularly show up