Brooke Kissinger helped lead the way for the Bluejays on Tuesday night (Williams / WBR)
Seniors Brooke Kissinger and Audrey Faber looked like a pair of long-range snipers as the duo combined for 22 points apiece in Creighton’s lone exhibition game on Tuesday night at D.J. Sokol Arena. Kissinger and Faber knocked down 11 of their team’s 17 3-pointers as the Bluejays opened up a 33-point halftime lead and cruised to a 100-68 win over Nebraska-Kearney.
“The first half was really fun — the first three quarters really,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do on the defensive end — we gave up 43 points in the second half. We need to rebound better and we reached a lot, but we probably got a little tired because we didn’t have the depth that we are normally going to have. But coaches like that, because if we had played as well in the second half as we did in the first half then they wouldn’t think they need to work on anything for our next practice. It was a good start.”
Both teams came out firing in the first quarter as each side connected on 7 of their first 12 shots from the field. Five of those makes were from behind the 3-point line for Creighton as they pushed out to a 21-16 lead with 3:50 to go in the opening period. Kissinger cashed a pair of threes early to spearhead the hot start with eight points.
Kissinger and Faber each finished the first quarter with 11 points to give Creighton a 34-21 lead. The Bluejays shot 66.7 percent from the field, including a 7-of-13 clip from downtown.
In the second quarter, Creighton outscored the Lopers, 17-0, over the first 5:05, to extend their lead to 30, and their defense did a better job across the board defensively in guarding the dribble, contesting shots, and limiting Kearney to one-and-done possessions. They held UNK to 1-for-17 shooting from the field over the final 10 minutes of the opening half while countering with 47.6 percent shooting on their end to build a 58-25 halftime lead.
“We were getting to the rim a little bit in the first quarter and they made a good adjustment,” Nebraska-Kearney head coach Carrie Eighmey said. “They kind of packed it in on us defensively and didn’t allow us to get to the rim. They were challenging us, or daring us, to take some outside perimeter shots … that led to some transition buckets for them.”
Kissinger went 5-of-7 from beyond the arc in 13 first-half minutes to lead all players with 19 points at the break. Faber chipped in with an all-around effort of 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots.
True freshman Payton Brotzki got her offense going after halftime. The former Platteview High School star scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in just four minutes of action in the third quarter. While Nebraska-Kearney shot 70 percent from the field in the period, Creighton still managed to extend the lead to 82-43 going into the fourth quarter.
With Ali Greene, Jaylyn Agnew, Olivia Elger, and Gracey Griglione unavailable due to injury, the Bluejays’ nine-woman rotation started to run on fumes in the fourth quarter after setting a hectic pace over the game’s first 30 minutes. The Lopers were 9-of-17 from the field and attempted 10 free throws over the final 10 minutes as they outscored the Jays, 25-18, to close within 32 at the final buzzer.
After scoring 22 points in 24 games, while connecting on just three of her 21 3-point attempts last season, Kissinger’s 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting from downtown was a long overdue in the mind of the Minden, Nebraska native, but it was a night born out of the confidence her teammates had in her after a difficult season in 2017-18.
“The confidence that have from my coaches and my teammates was the key for me tonight,” Kissinger told reporters after the game. “Them giving me positive feedback and telling me to shoot even after I miss, that’s kind of big in dealing with that mental game that you play with yourself sometimes. I needed to redeem myself from last year’s play.”
Faber tied Kissinger for the team-lead with 22 points, while also adding a game-high nine rebounds, four blocks, and three assists in 31 minutes. Lipscomb transfer Morgan Turner started tonight in place of Greene, and flirted with a double-double, adding 12 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. For the game, the Bluejays shot 55.1 percent from the field and 47.2 percent from behind the 3-point line. They finished with 25 assists on 38 made baskets and only turned over the ball 10 times.
Creighton will hit the road on Sunday to take on Iowa in a closed scrimmage before returning to Omaha to prepare for their 2018-19 season-opener at home against South Dakota on Wednesday, November 7 at 6:00 p.m.