Things got a little bit too close for comfort down the stretch for Creighton head coach Jim Flanery and his team, but they fought off some late-game struggles for the second game in a row and emerged with a 63-48 victory over South Dakota on Tuesday night.
The Jays found consistent success going inside as they jumped out to a 16-5 lead midway through the first half. South Dakota (2-5) answered back with a 9-2 run over a four-minute stretch to cut the Creighton lead to 18-14 with 7:29 to play in the half. A step-back, corner three-pointer by Bluejay sophomore point guard Marissa Janning re-ignited the suddenly stagnant Creighton offense as the Jays outscored the Coyotes 18-5 over the final seven and a half minutes.
Thanks to 50% shooting from the field (15-of-30) and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 8:1 they took a commanding 36-19 lead into the locker room. Janning led the way for the Jays with 10 points in the half, and Creighton also got big contributions from their two centers, senior Alyssa Kamphaus and redshirt freshman Bri Rollerson, which combined for 12 points (6-6 FG), nine rebounds, and a blocked shot.
“In the first half I thought we were really good,” Flanery said. “I can’t remember the last time we had one turnover in a half.”
Creighton carried the momentum into the second half, going on a 7-0 run in the first four minutes to open up their largest lead of the game at 43-19 with 16:09 left. Kamphaus scored the first four of those points, then Janning added a three-pointer to cap off the run and force a South Dakota timeout.
Alyssa Kamphaus had 10 points and 8 rebounds against South Dakota (WBR/Mike Spomer) CLICK TO BUY PHOTO
The Bluejay offense got stagnant again coming out of the timeout, and the Coyotes outscored the Jays 24-11 to cut the 24-point deficit down to just 11 with 6:16 remaining. That was as close as South Dakota would get, though, as both teams combined to go 1-for-12 from the field with four turnovers over the four minutes. Then, with Creighton leading 57-45 and their star senior Sarah Nelson battling illness and fatigue, the Jays turned to Janning to close out the win — and she did just that.
Janning drove to the basket and converted to extend the lead to 59-45, then on the next possession drew a foul going to the basket and sank both free throws to put the Bluejays ahead by 16 with just over a minute remaining. Rollerson wrapped it up with offensive rebound and putback with 0:22 left and the Jays improved to 4-2 on the season, with all four wins coming at home, including the last three by double-digits.
Marissa Janning led the Jays with 20 points against South Dakota (WBR/Mike Spomer) CLICK TO BUY PHOTO
Janning, a preseason All-Big East selection, finished with 20 points (her fourth 20-point game of the season) on 6-of-13 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three, to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.
Her fellow backcourt mate, senior McKenzie Fujan, also finished in double figures, scoring 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. After reaching double figures in scoring just once in the first four games, Fujan has averaged 14.5 points per game in the last two games.
Knowing how well Fujan is capable of playing when she’s confident, getting her going as the Jays get set to take on Oklahoma, BYU, and Nebraska in their next three games was important according to Flanery.
“(McKenzie) was definitely someone we needed to get going a bit. She needs to attack the basket and we said that to her last night that this was a team where after three, four, or five passes you’re going to be able to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. I thought she did a good job of that. We need her to get more than one free throw attempt, but I really like what she’s done the last two games in terms of having a mindset to work on getting to the basket.”
The two-headed monster of Kamphaus and Rollerson finished with a combined 20 points (10-14 FG) and 16 rebounds. Although, the two proved to be a handful for South Dakota, it wasn’t an area Creighton came in looking to establish early on.
“There wasn’t any point of emphasis, we just got it started early in the game and it continued on,” Kamphaus said. “It’s really nice because we push each other like that in practice every day so I feel like we help each other out,” she added in response to the post offense not missing a beat when one subs in for the other.
Rollerson had a strong exhibition game and she has carried that over into the regular season as well. Despite playing just the 9th-most minutes on the team this season, she is 4th on the team in scoring (5.0 ppg), 3rd in rebounding (4.7 rpg), 2nd in blocked shots (1.3 bpg), and she leads the team in field goal percentage at 68.2% on 15-of-22 shooting.
The Jays now face the most challenging portion of their non-conference schedule with a showdown with the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Okla., looming ahead. Although riding a two-game winning streak and with Thanksgiving in two days, the Jays aren’t about to get all fat and happy. According to Janning, this next string of games beginning with a rematch with the Sooners is a chance to prove to everyone that Creighton deserves to be dancing come March.
“I want us to learn that we can compete,” Janning said, “I think we’re pretty sure that we can compete, but we have to know that we can compete with these big teams. We beat Minnesota, and Kansas was beatable for us, but we came out with a loss. We beat BYU last year, and I’m positive we can beat Oklahoma. We need to come in to the Big East confident and know that there is a spot in the tournament for us this year again.”
Creighton will look to avenge last year’s 69-48 season-opening home loss to the Sooners this Sunday, Dec. 1. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. from the Lloyd Noble Center.
INJURY UPDATE: True freshman MC McGrory (concussion) is expected to see the doctor in about eight days. She is improving, but still has symptoms and isn’t expected to be back in practice until next Wednesday at the earliest. Also, redshirt sophomore Taylor Johnson (ACL/MCL) suffered a minor setback, and had to have some “meniscus cleaned up” according to Flanery. The surgery was today, and Johnson said it went well. She’ll be on crutches for a couple days.