Bri Rollerson took things into her own hands, literally, on Thursday night to save the win for the Bluejays (Spomer / WBR)
In a game that produced almost as many uncontested shots as an NBA All-Star weekend, it was the defensive effort of senior center Brianna Rollerson that made the difference in the end to help Creighton earn their first win of the 2016-17 season.
On the final three defensive possessions, Rollerson was the first player on the floor, forced a tie-up on a loose ball, secured a rebound, and came up with the game-saving blocked shot with just over one second remaining to secure an 80-77 win over the Drake Bulldogs, and improve the Bluejays’ record to 1-2 on the year.
“Flan is always yelling at me to help off my player, so I thought it was a great time to do the right thing,” Rollerson joked afterwards. “End of the game, perfect time. I was just really hoping that I didn’t foul her, and it worked out pretty well.”
The fifth-year veteran out of Omaha Central finished with a double-double for the second consecutive game. In just 25 minutes of action, she filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a pair of blocked shots. None bigger than the one she swatted away when Drake senior forward Lizzy Wendell drove to the hoop for the go-ahead basket on the last play of the game.
“Bri has kind of been knocked around for her reputation defensively over the course of her career in the locker room,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “They call it “Bri-fense” instead of “defense”, because it’s kind of her own rules. To see her [block that shot] was pretty cool.”
The first half between the Bluejays and Bulldogs was a track meet and luckily for Creighton, junior guard Myah Mellman brought her running shoes. After not seeing any playing time in road losses to South Dakota State and Wichita State over the weekend, the sharpshooter from Mason City, Iowa made a splash — quite a few actually — in her 2016-17 debut in loud fashion, scoring a career-high 15 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Nine of her points came in the final five minutes of the second quarter to help put her team over the hump in a tight game and carry the Bluejays into the locker room with a 45-42 lead at the break.
“I think our coaches did an incredible job of setting us up to be successful against the zone,” Mellman said. “We practiced Drake’s zone all week, so it was pretty easy.”
Myah Mellman came up big for the Bluejays, coming off the bench in the first half going 5-of-5 from three. (Spomer / WBR)
She finished the night with a personal-best 18 points, and also managed to tie the D.J. Sokol Arena record with six 3-pointers. Mellman only missed on one of seven attempts from the 3-point line during her 19 minutes of action.
An experienced back court makes playing time hard to come by, but Mellman didn’t let that affect her attitude or preparation, especially this early in the season.
“With the teammates I have around me I can’t really complain if I don’t get in the game, because I know how good everyone is around me,” she said. “As long as I battle every single day in practice then they are helping me get better, so when I do get the opportunity to go in the game I have to perform.”
“I think it’s also important to realize how many more games we have to play. It was just two games. You have to stay positive.”
Creighton was able to extend their narrow halftime lead as the third quarter got underway. Sophomore forward Audrey Faber keyed an 8-2 run with a 3-pointer and a driving layup along the right baseline to make it 53-44 with 6:29 left in the period. A few minutes later, Mellman’s sixth 3-pointer gave the Bluejays their largest lead of the game at 60-49.
But the Bulldogs responded in what was starting to feel like a turning point in the game. They cut the lead in half by the end of the third quarter, and a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Sammie Bachrodt trimmed the deficit to 65-63 just six seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Bluejays hung on to the narrow advantage for most of the period, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Bachrodt and Wendell put Drake back in front, 77-75, with 2:56 remaining. Senior guard Marissa Janning followed that up with a crucial sequence for the Bluejays when she stole the ball from Wendell and found fellow senior Lauren Works in transition for an and-one layup. Works converted the traditional 3-point play to put Creighton up 78-77 with 1:22 to play.
Janning had a chance to force Drake to need a last-second 3-pointer to tie the game, but she missed a pair of free throws with 6.9 seconds left to set up the final play. After a timeout, Drake got the ball to Wendell at the top of the key, but junior guard Sydney Lamberty followed the coaching staff’s scouting report and forced the Bulldogs’ go-to scorer to go to her right instead of the left hand that she prefers. That pushed her into Rollerson who stopped the drive dead in its tracks with her second blocked shot of the game.
In years past, that’s not a possession Jim Flanery would entrust with Rollerson to make the right play, and on this night she almost didn’t get the chance to make it were it not for the rest of the Bluejay coaching staff.
“I’m going to definitely credit my assistant coaches, because on the last possession I was leaning toward putting [freshman forward Jaylyn Agnew] on the floor,” Flanery said. “First of all, I felt like ‘Riss’ was going to make one or two of the free throws, so in my mind I was thinking go small so we can not give up a three, and be able to switch more screens.”
“That was my mindset going into those free throws that Marissa was shooting, but my assistant coaches were pretty firm in telling me that ‘Bri’ needed to be in.”
Rollerson’s blocked shot found it’s way into Janning’s hands and she was then fouled with 0.1 seconds still left on the game clock. This time she hit both free throws to wrap up a three-point win over a team that Creighton has faced off against more than anyone in program history.
Janning finished one assist shy of a triple-double as she ended with 11 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and three steals. By far the best performance she has turned in since returning from a broken leg that halted her senior season six games in last year. She had as many points and steals, and more rebounds and assists in 32 minutes against Drake than she did in 63 combined minutes against South Dakota State and Wichita State.
“I was hard on her in film on Monday, because I just thought we needed her to look at the basket more,” Flanery said. “I thought she practiced with a different mentality on Tuesday and Wednesday in terms of scoring the ball and being more shot ready.”
Regardless of how anyone played individually, getting a win on the board was the most important result of the night. Heading to the Bahamas next week to sitting at 0-3 instead of 1-2 with a top 25 Missouri squad waiting for them would have made for an anxious week of preparation and travel.
“I feel way better than if we had to sit on 0-3 for another week,” Flanery said. “That would be tough. We’re going there to win, but we’re also going there to have a good time, and I know my mood wouldn’t be as good leaving on Tuesday if we were 0-3, so it was big. Even for an older team I think it’s important to not go very long without winning.”
Next up for Creighton is a little island getaway where they will face No. 25 Missouri and either Dayton or Georgia Tech in the Junkaroo Jam that begins on November 25th. The Bluejays will face the nationally-ranked Tigers on Friday, then play the Flyers or Yellow Jackets on Saturday before returning to Omaha for a game against the Kansas Jayhawks on November 30th.