Creighton WBB head coach Jim Flanery has prepared his team for the postseason to make some noise (Juszyk / WBR)
Senior guard Temi Carda scored 23 of her career-high 29 points after halftime as Creighton rallied from 12-point deficit in the third quarter to upset #3 seed Seton Hall, 83-76, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.
One night after tying her career-high with 26 points in a 56-42 win over Georgetown, the 5-foot-9 combo guard was saddled with two fouls and held to just six points on 2-for-8 shooting in the first half against the Pirates. The second half was a much different story, however, as Carda went 7-for-7 from the field and 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the second half to spearhead the come-from-behind win.
“I’m really proud of her and the way she’s led this team,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “We’re so young and inexperienced except for her, and to get the kind of effort that it took to win tonight is certainly a testament to what she’s provided all year from a leadership standpoint.”
Temi Carda is making a statement in the Big East tournament (Juszyk / WBR)
The 6th-seeded Bluejays trailed 40-32 at the break and saw that deficit increase to 12 in the first 35 seconds of the third quarter when two of Seton Hall’s three All-Big East First Team selections, point guard Lauren Park-Lane and wing Desiree Elmore, scored on back-to-back possessions to keep their momentum rolling. Carda answered for Creighton with 11 points in a 19-5 run that she capped off with a drive by Park-Lane and a finish at the rim with her left hand to give the Bluejays their first lead of the game at 51-49 with 2:38 remaining in the third quarter. Seton Hall tied the game at 53, but Carda again got the better of Park-Lane in the final seconds to send her team to the fourth quarter with a two-point lead.
That third quarter surge served to enhance the confidence of a Creighton team that was not only playing its second game in as many days, but was also without services of three key contributors in senior point guard Tatum Rembao, freshman point guard Molly Mogensen, and junior wing Rachael Saunders.
Saunders has been sidelined with a season-ending knee injury since December 17th, but the Rembao and Mogensen losses are more recent. They combined for 24 points, six assists, and three steals, including a game-winning layup in the final seconds by Rembao to beat this same Seton Hall team on the road in overtime three weeks prior to Saturday’s rematch.
Despite those circumstances, the third quarter performance provided Creighton the level of belief they felt they needed to overcome the odds.
“From the beginning we had some sort of belief in ourselves, but in the third quarter it kicked in when we kind of got rolling,” Carda said.
The fourth quarter was a big shot barrage for the Bluejays. After Seton Hall put up the first six points of the final stanza to take a 59-55 lead with 7:31 to go, freshman forward Emma Ronsiek nailed a pick-and-pop 3-pointer to re-ignite Creighton’s offense. Fellow freshman forward Morgan Maly buried a 3-ball of her own on the next possession to tie the game at 61. After the Pirates took the lead right back, Carda converted a driving layup to knot it up again.
Desiree Elmore — who led Seton Hall with 22 points, six rebounds, and six assists — gave her team their final lead on a mid-range pull-up with 5:20 remaining, but it was short-lived as sophomore guard DeArica Pryor atoned for a turnover on Creighton’s previous possession by stepping into a wide open, don’t-mind-if-I-do transition three from the top of the key to give the Bluejays the lead for good at 66-65 with 4:01 on the game clock.
“Getting the defensive stop and just having my teammates there with me really boosted my confidence,” Pryor said of that sequence. “Temi just told me not to worry about [the turnover] and just get the next play. There was still a lot of time left to change the game. I just tried to stay locked in and I knew that three would be big if I hit it, so that confidence from teammates really helped.”
After Pryor put the Jays over the top, Maly nailed a turnaround jumper over her right shoulder and Ronsiek buried a slick step-back 3-pointer in front of her own bench to stick the daggers into Seton Hall’s hopes of keeping their late-season momentum going into Selection Monday. Creighton capped the comeback by going a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final 24 seconds.
Maly finished with 18 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes. Ronsiek added a double-double of her own with 20 points and 10 rebounds as well as a career-high five assists. Playing in just the 19th game of their college careers, their advanced skills didn’t go unnoticed by Seton Hall head coach Tony Bozzella.
“I’ve said to [Coach Flanery] all year that [Morgan] and [Emma] are going to be two of the best players in the conference,” Bozzella said after the game.
The win moves Creighton’s overall record to 9-10 on the season and keeps them alive in the Big East Tournament. In Sunday night’s semifinal matchup they’ll take on a Marquette team that has not only bested them twice already this season, but one that eliminated them in the semifinals of the conference tournament in both 2017 and 2018.
That task isn’t enough to take the smile of Temi Carda’s face. Despite only getting 26.5 seconds of rest the last two games, she’s not unwilling to acknowledge how little time she has left in a Creighton uniform.
“I don’t have much time left,” she said. “As much as I can be out on the court and doing what I can to help my team, that’s what I want to be doing. Plus, the TV timeouts are a little bit of a help.”
Tip-off for Sunday’s semifinal tilt between the Bluejays and the 2nd-seeded Golden Eagles is set for 5:00 p.m. central time on Fox Sports 1.