In the four games prior to Friday night’s contest against the Xavier Musketeers, Brianna Rollerson scored a total of 22 points. On Friday, she matched that total in 28 minutes of action. The sophomore center grabbed 10 rebounds, a pair of steals and blocks, and big assist late in the second half to lead the Creighton women’s basketball team to a 74-65 win in front of 1,002 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena to kickoff alumni weekend.
“I thought Bri really flipped the game with a couple defensive plays. We’re probably going to talk about her offense, but I thought she stepped up and made some plays defensively that we need her to make going forward,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “I told her in the locker room we need that kind of effort and ability to make a play defensively that she made during that stretch.”
The start of the game was especially strong for Rollerson. The redshirt sophomore from Omaha scored six of Creighton’s first eight points, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked a shot to help the Bluejays (11-10, 4-6 Big East) open up an 8-1 lead early into the game. Junior guard Marissa Janning and senior forward Alexis Akin-Otiko extended the lead to 14-5 with a pair of 3-pointers. But the Musketeers (12-9, 4-6 Big East) responded with a 12-0 run, holding Creighton scoreless for over five minutes to take a 17-14 lead midway through the first half.
Falling by a single point 28 days ago in the first meeting, the Bluejays were expecting a fight in the rematch. After the 12-0 run they swung the momentum right back in their favor, outscoring Xavier 22-5 over the next six minutes to take their largest lead of the contest at 36-22 with 3:37 remaining in opening half. Eight of those 22 points came from Creighton’s woman in the middle, Brianna Rollerson, as part of her 14-point, 7-rebound first half performance that the Musketeers couldn’t find an answer for.
“She’s a good player,” Xavier head coach Brian Neal said. “From what little I can tell from a thousand miles away she’s maybe been a little bit up and down, but she’s certainly capable of having big nights like that. So it wasn’t a surprise. We lost her a couple times. I’m sure she was ready to play anyway, but we lost her and then we couldn’t box her out, so she had six offensive rebounds the first three or four minutes. We did a good job of helping her get off to a good start, and then she did a good job putting it away.”
Creighton took a 38-28 lead into the locker room at halftime, but Musketeers started chipping away at the lead little by little in the second half. A 6-0 run out of the locker room cut it to a four-point game. Then later a 14-6 run, capped off by sophomore forward Maddison Blackwell, put the Musketeers in front, 57-55, with 6:22 left to play.
Akin-Otiko was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit a free throw to cut make it a one-point game. She missed the second one, but freshman guard Sydney Lamberty swooped in for the offensive rebound. She dropped the ball off to Rollerson in the paint who, with the defense out of position, handed it off to freshman guard Jade Owens as she was cutting to the basket. Owens laid the ball in off the glass to give Creighton a 58-57 advantage with just under six minutes remaining.
Xavier tried to answer back, but Rollerson came up with a steal on each of the next two possessions. Both defensive play led to scores by Lamberty to extend the lead. The Musketeers landed one final punch when sophomore guard Raeshaun Gaffney nailed a 3-pointer to cut it to 61-60 with 4:33 left in the game.
That would be as close as Xavier could get as the Bluejays scored the next nine points, punctuated by an 18-footer along the right baseline by Lamberty on a drive and kick by Janning to extend the lead to 70-60 with under two minutes to go. Creighton wrapped up the victory with a pair of free throws by Rollerson and a driving layup by Janning, who finished the evening with 17 points, six assists, four steals, and just one turnover.
Lamberty was the only other Bluejay in double figures, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds. Xavier was led by Blackwell and junior guard Jenna Crittendon, who each chipped in with 14 points.
The night belonged to Rollerson, however. The 22 points and 10 rebounds will stand out, but it was her plays on the defensive end that ultimately made the difference in the Bluejays coming out on the winning side of a closely contested game for a change.
“Our mindset now is we know we’re not an incredibly athletic team, so we know when teams get on runs we have to turn it around,” said Janning. “I think Bri did a really good job of that actually, because her defense at the end really saved us.”
For Rollerson, it was her third double-double of the season. All three games have resulted in Creighton wins. And after seeing her playing time fluctuate for most of the season she acknowledged that it’s up to her to put herself in a position to make a difference through better effort on the defensive end of the court.
“Defense is a really big thing for Flan,” said Rollerson. “I think that was one thing that I really needed to work on, so I tried to focus on that mainly. Even if I don’t score I think [the coaches] would be happier as long as our team we play defense better, and defense will keep us in a game. … It boosts my confidence for sure. I think it shows that I should work hard and try to play like this every night. I think it was good for the team.”
The Bluejays will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena when they welcome the Butler Bulldogs (12-9, 8-2 Big East) to town for a 1:05 p.m. contest. The Bulldogs are 3-1 against Creighton in the last two seasons, and won the first meeting, 63-58, in Indianapolis back on January 4th.
