Senior guard McKenzie Fujan scored 10 of her season-high 16 points in the second half, and redshirt freshman Bri Rollerson posted career-highs in points with 10, and rebounds with 7, as the Creighton women’s basketball team improved to 3-2 on the season with a 65-55 victory over the Houston Cougars on Saturday night at D.J. Sokol Arena.
The Jays never trailed in the game. They won the opening tip with senior Jordan Garrison burying a three-pointer from the corner to get the Jays going. Creighton made 9 of their first 17 shots to help them take a 20-8 lead with 7:52 remaining in the first half. They stretched to as far 13 in the opening 20 minutes, but went 0-of-4 from the field and committed four turnovers over the final 6:28 of the half to allow Houston to hang around. Sophomore point guard Marissa Janning sank a pair of free throws on consecutive possessions to give the Jays a 29-19 lead heading into the break, but the Jays knew they didn’t walk into the locker room playing their best basketball.
“In the locker room during halftime we were talking about how we’re going to miss shots and we just have to keep rebounding and keep taking shots and they’ll fall,” said Fujan.
A sweet and simple formula that proved to be the case. The Jays out-rebounded the Cougars (1-4) in the second half and made 14-of-28 shots as they built a lead that got as large as 23 with 12:50 to go thanks to the play of Fujan and Rollerson. They combined to score 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the second half, committing only one turnover between the two of them in the half. Fujan scored 10 of Creighton’s first 14 points to begin the half as they built a 43-22 lead with 13:49 to go.
“I thought she made a nice adjustment,” said Creighton head coach Jim Flanery in regards to Fujan’s efforts. “She missed a couple shots early, so she drove it and that gave her confidence in driving it. Then she had some open looks and she made those. I liked that from her. I felt like she was the difference early in the second half.”
Rollerson took over from there, scoring six of the next eight points for Creighton to help keep the Cougars at arm’s length.
“Matt Fritsche, our assistant (coach), says she just finds herself in the right spot, and I don’t know if you can teach that,” Flanery said of Rollerson. “She can get open and she has good instincts. Our players are comfortable throwing her the ball, too. She finishes plays and she’s doing a better job of making herself big and available. We’re happy with her progression. Defensively she needs more experience, but we’re excited about where she is now, and where she’s going to be in January and February.”
Thanks mainly to the Jays two hot hands, Houston was never able to get the game within reach until the final minute when they finally started hitting shots, scoring 11 points in the last :57 seconds to create the final margin. While Fujan and Rollerson had the standout performances, it wound up being a truly complete effort from 1-to-10 on the roster. Nine out of the 10 Creighton players to see the floor scored at least three points; all 10 of those players had at least one rebound, led by a career-high 8 from Janning; and eight of the 10 Jays had at least one assists, with seven dishing out at least two. On the night Creighton finished with 18 assists on 25 made field goals, compared to just four on 19 field goals for the Cougars. That teamwork and all-around effort is rare to see, and according to Fujan and fellow senior Sarah Nelson, seeing everyone get involved in the game can be a great thing especially when their “go-to” players aren’t necessarily having their best game.
“It’s always nice to have those games where everyone contributes, because it’s never like ‘oh we have to get the ball to McKenzie’, we knew everyone could step up if the time called for it,” said Nelson. “If someone had a wide open three we knew they’d take it and there was a good chance it would go in. That’s comforting to know, too, that the game is not riding on one person.”
Fujan agreed, adding, “it’s going to be difficult (to beat us when we’re playing like that). We like playing together, and like giving each other assists. We like that that’s the way that we play, and I think that we strive for that.”
Creighton has now won 14 straight at home, covering a span of 362 days that dates back to a 58-48 setback against Kansas on Nov. 25 of last year. It’ll be at least full calendar year before that streak comes to end as their next contest isn’t until Tuesday, Nov. 26 when they welcome South Dakota to Omaha for a 7 p.m. tip-off from D.J. Sokol Arena.
