Two days after suffering a season-opening loss at home to South Dakota, the Creighton women’s basketball team picked itself up off the canvas, hopped on a bus, drove up to Fargo, and laid a beating on North Dakota State. The Bluejays made 10 3-pointers, shot 58.5 percent from the field, had 11 different players hit at least one shot, and eight different players register an assist in an 86-51 win over the Bison on Friday night to improve to 1-1 on the season.
“A lot of people contributed and we got a lot of good experience for the younger players especially,” head coach Jim Flanery said. “It was good to get pretty much the whole roster some experience.”
Senior forward Audrey Faber and junior guard Jaylyn Agnew got the Jays off on the right foot by scoring eight of the team’s first 10 points. The supporting cast, which struggled in the 77-65 home loss to South Dakota on Wednesday night, carried the load for the rest of the opening quarter. Temi Carda, Tatum Rembao, Ali Greene, Rachael Saunders, and Morgan Turner all entered the scoring column to lead a balanced attack and give the Bluejays a 19-17 lead over the Bison after the first quarter.
Faber came out strong to start the second quarter, scoring eight of her team’s first ten points, then Agnew added her third 3-pointer of the half to extend Creighton’s lead to double figures on their way to a 41-26 edge at the break. The two All-Big East performers combined for 22 points in the opening half on 8 of 11 shooting, including a perfect 5-for-5 mark from beyond the arc.
“To have our confidence shaken the other night and be on the road, it’s nice to have those two make shots,” Flanery said. “That way you’re not playing from behind and they’re not panicking, and Flan’s not panicking — that’s probably more important than anything.”
The bench took over the game for the Bluejays after halftime. Carda, Saunders, and redshirt freshman forward Gracey Griglione outscored the Bison on their own, 26-25, in the third and fourth quarters. Creighton led 60-38 heading into the fourth, and the final period only made the final result more lopsided as they put up their best offensive quarter of the night with 26 points on 69.2 percent shooting.
Faber led the Jays with 17 points. She ended 6-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to bring her three-point field goal percentage through two games up to 72.7 percent on 11 attempts. She was joined in double figures by three teammates — Carda finished with 14, Griglione had 12, and Rembao added 10. Michelle Gaislerova was the only player in double figures for North Dakota State. The senior finished with 17 points, but Creighton held the rest of her team to 34 points on 35.9 percent shooting.
The win was the beginning of a stretch that will see Creighton play eight of their next 11 games away from Omaha to end the calendar year. Next up on that slate is a trip to Brookings, South Dakota on Thursday, November 15 to take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Tip-off from Frost Arena — where the Bluejays are 3-2 all-time — is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CST.
Game Notes:
>>>Redshirt freshman forward Gracey Griglione made her Creighton debut and scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Since Jim Flanery became Creighton’s head coach in 2002-03, current player Audrey Faber and current assistant coach Chevelle Saunsoci are the only freshman to score more points in their Bluejay debut. Faber scored 14 points in a win over Wichita State, while Saunsoci put up 13 in a loss at Northwestern.
“You’re happy for her,” Flanery said. “We felt like defensively this was a better matchup for her than [South Dakota], so it was good to see her out there. I said I’d like to see how many Hall of Fame players we’ve had who didn’t score 12 points in their first collegiate game.”
>>>Senior Jade Owens and sophomore Tatum Rembao combined for six assists, three steals, and only two turnovers in 30 minutes against the Bison. That’s the kind of decision-making the Bluejays are going to need from them going forward, according to Flanery.
“Jade needs to be a player who takes care of the ball,” he said, “because we’re not necessarily going to get a ton of scoring out of her, and defensively she’s maybe a little more limited than she was a couple years ago even though she is smart enough and can follow a scouting report. Her actual quickness isn’t what it was, but she’s got to be that kid who has a two or three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio, and then she’s just got to play smart defense, which she has been doing.
“And Tatum was good tonight. We need her to find that happy medium where she’s not forcing plays; where she’s in attack mode, but not hyper-attack mode. She kind of teeters on the edge of that.”
>>>Creighton’s bench accounted for 57 of the 86 points, 13 of the 18 assists, 16 of the 28 rebounds, and shot 60.6 percent from the field. After struggling in the home loss to South Dakota, Flanery is hoping this provides a much-needed shot of confidence for a group that is comprised of four freshman, two sophomores, and one junior.
“I think it’s big. Certainly we’re not happy with our result against South Dakota, but to get them experience against a really good team the other night, and then turn around and get them some experience on the road is going to be helpful … anything that can take pressure off of Audrey and Jaylyn and boost the confidence of those kids is vitally important.”
>>>Junior guard Jaylyn Agnew scored eight points and didn’t miss a shot in the first half, but she spent the entire second half on the bench with her shooting hand wrapped up after injuring her thumb in a scrum for a loose ball in the second quarter. The plan is for her to see a doctor when the teams returns to Omaha to determine the severity of the injury. Flanery noted that while she did hit a 3-pointer after the injury, the team decided to err on the side of caution.
“With the game where it was it didn’t make sense [to risk it],” Flanery said. “Not that the game was over, but it was kind of headed that way.”