Jim Flanery knew his team was in for a fierce test heading into their season-opening matchup at South Dakota State on Friday night in Brookings. The 21st-ranked Bluejays were anywhere from a 3.5 to 6.5-point underdogs, depending on your site preference, against a Jackrabbits team that went 27-6 last season and returned seven of their top eight scorers — not including 2023 Summit League Sixth Woman of the Year Kallie Theisen, who is back in the mix after sitting out last season with an injury.
Entering the game, SDSU sported a 57-4 record at the newly revamped (and renamed) First Bank & Trust Arena over the last four seasons. One of those four losses, and the most lopsided of the bunch, came at the hands of Creighton back in November 2022 when then junior guard Lauren Jensen dropped what was at the time a career-high 30 points in a 78-69 win in the season-opener for both teams that year.
Jensen is still in white and blue after returning for a fifth year in Omaha. She christened her final season of college basketball with a game-high 23 points on Friday night, but it wasn’t enough to repeat the feat as the Jackrabbits dug themselves out of an 8-point hole in the first half to deal Creighton a 76-71…
