Creighton women’s basketball, if you haven’t noticed, is getting really good, really fast.
Last season, the Jays earned their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, upsetting Syracuse and coming darn close to knocking off Tennessee. This came on the heels of an exhilarating late-season run wherein Carli Tritz and Sarah Nelson led Creighton to win their last seven regular season games and clinch the Missouri Valley’s regular season title.
It’s been said that the Jays — both the men’s and women’s teams, in fact — will need to incorporate a different sort of player into the roster to compete in the Big East. We need hyper-athletic guards, slashing wings, and bruising post players. Corn-fed, Midwestern shooters and suburban HORSE players just won’t cut it like they used to.
But this C.U. squad has played — and hung with — the Big East before. Just this season, the Jays went 2-0 against Big East competition. In 2011, a young Creighton team played three halves of great basketball against Notre Dame, a national championship team, and St. John’s, who were on the ropes until a last-second buzzer beater. Jim Flanery’s scheduling style hearkens back to the days of Eddie Sutton and the Travelin’ Jays, who’d go anywhere and take on anyone. That philosophy has earned “Flan” some grief from fellow Valley coaches, but the regular season titles, tournament championships, and March Madness appearances speak for themselves.
This is all a long way of saying that the Creighton women may not desperately need a “new look,” whatever that means, to compete in the faster, tougher, meaner Big East. We can expect, however, that the Jays will try to boost the level of athleticism for a squad that periodically has looked lethargic, especially matched up against speedy, scrappy guards of the sort that fill Big East rosters. The team that will return next year is experienced and tough as nails. But Flanery & Co. will have the daunting task of filling the 2014 class with replacements for what’s been arguably the best recruiting class Creighton’s ever seen.
Update 6/27/13: The Creighton coaching staff is pretty much killing it. Three huge commitments in the last month (Brown, Lamberty, Norby) all came from the northern tundras of Minnesota, a veritable pipeline for the Creighton women’s basketball team. At this moment, the Jays have one or two more spots to fill in the 2014 class. We are looking into the possibility that yet another commitment from the North Star State (fun fact: Wikipedia also lists “Butter Country” as a nickname for Minnesota) is in the works.
Guards/Wings
 Myah Mellman in black. (photo courtesy: globegazette.com) |
 Sydney Lamberty (photo courtesy: ncsasports.org) |
| Prospect | Height | Location | Schools | Notes | Result/Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myah Mellman | 5' 7" | Mason City (Ia.) High Club: All Iowa Attack | CREIGHTON, ILLINOIS STATE, DRAKE, IOWA | Early commit is a sharpshooter, making over 50% of her 3pt attempts this season ... Comes from same club program as the Jensen sisters | SIGNED - Committed to Creighton in Oct. 2012 |
| Sydney Lamberty | 5' 10" | Park Senior High (Cottage Grove, Minn.) Club: Minnesota Stars | Creighton | One of the most dominant guards in the Minneapolis area, with a real nose for the basket ... Scored 1,000th career point in Jan. of soph. yr. ... named to Adidas Trefoil Top 20 2014s to Watch. | SIGNED - Committed to Creighton |
| Hannah Cook | 5' 11" | Ozark (Mo.) High Club: MoKan Eclipse | CREIGHTON, MISSOURI STATE, DRAKE, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE, Kansas State | ESPN: *** Confident, athletic guard with good frame and great range on her shot. Could be an impact player in first year. | RISING - Cook attended Creighton's camp this week. |
| Roichelle Marble | 5' 7" | East High (Des Moines, Ia.) Club: Kingdom Hoops Elite | Creighton, DRAKE, BRADLEY, Northern Iowa, Iowa, Iowa State | ESPN: *** Very quick off the dribble with superior penetrating ability, takes a commanding role on the floor | RISING - Roichelle played well against former CU target (now Marquette recruit) Kenisha Bell at an AAU tourney over the summer. She's poised to have a breakout summer with upcoming July tourneys in Augusta (GA), Chicago, and Minnesota. |
| Brooke Kissinger | 5' 6" | Minden (Neb.) High Club: Nebraska Bison Shooting Stars | CREIGHTON, ILLINOIS, Colorado, Oklahoma State | ESPN: *** Pure shooter with great outside game, good ball handling ... Scored 19.5 ppg playing for Class C-1 Minden HS. Twin sister is Jamie. | OUT - Committed to Illinois |
| Jamie Kissinger | 5' 9" | Minden (Neb.) High Club: Nebraska Bison Shooting Stars | CREIGHTON, Denver, SAN DIEGO, Princeton | ESPN: *** Very confident outside shooter, averaged nearly 16 pts. and 8 reb. per game this season. Would fit well in CU system. Twin sister is Brooke. | OUT - Committed to San Diego |
| Jenna Deemer | 5' 6" | Ursuline Academy (New Orleans, La.) Club: | CREIGHTON, TULANE, Northwestern, Ucla, Usc, Virginia Tech, LSU, Louisiana | Can light up the gym with her scoring ability … One of the best three-point shooters in the New Orleans area … Named all-District by the New Orleans Times-Picayune this year … averaged 17 ppg. | OUT - Committed to LSU |
| Jen Wellnitz | 5' 9" | Black Hawk High (South Wayne, Wisc.) Club: Wisconsin Academy | Creighton, DRAKE, Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee, UW-GB, Marquette, Northern Illinois, Evansville, Youngstown State | Athletic wing with good slashing ability, great hops, and a knack for performing best when it counts … Four-sport athlete (BB, VB, softball, and state champion in T&F) | OUT - Committed to UW-Green Bay |
| Kenisha Bell | 5' 10" | Kennedy High (Bloomington, Minn.) Club: North Tartan | Creighton, MARQUETTE, MINNESOTA, Michigan | ESPN: **** Hoopgurlz Super 60: #37 Initially verballed to U. Minn. but decommitted after a great showing at Nike Nationals last year. One of the top prospects in MN. A great wing with phenomenal talent, right in CU's recruiting pipeline. | OUT - Committed to Marquette |
Forwards/Posts
| Kylie Brown (photo courtesy: breakdownsportsusa.com) |
 Bailey Norby (photo courtesy: berecruited.com) |
| Prospect | Height | Location | Schools | Notes | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey Norby | 6' 2" | Forest Lake (Minn.) High Club: Minnesota Stars | Creighton | Scored over 1,000 pts and 700 rebounds in HS career ... Dominant presence in paint against strong HS competition … Plays tennis and runs track. | SIGNED - Committed to Creighton |
| Kylie Brown | 6' 3" | Simley HS (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) Club: Minnesota Fury | CREIGHTON, IOWA STATE, ILLINOIS STATE | Ranked #8 player in Minnesota by gprep.net ... monster in the post ... will be a great successor to Sarah Nelson | SIGNED - Committed to Creighton |
| Michaela Rasmussen | 6' 1" | Holy Family Catholic (Victoria, Minn.) Club: Minnesota Metro Stars | Creighton | Roughly 15 ppg and 7 reb. per game against tough competition ... First-team All-Conference ... Would likely play on the wing at CU | INTEREST |
| Kayla Burroughs | 6' 1" | St. Cloud (Minn.) Tech Club: Minnesota Comets | Creighton, Iowa State, North Dakota, Central Michigan | Athletic wing has a 30-inch vertical and averages 15 ppg, with good shooting range ... will need to develop strength and work on inside game. | INTEREST |
| Chatrice White | 6' 3" | Shelby-Rising City (Neb.) High Club: Cornhusker Shooting Star | CREIGHTON, NEBRASKA, IOWA, IOWA STATE, OKLAHOMA STATE, MICHIGAN STATE, PURDUE, Notre Dame, Stanford | ESPN: **** Hoopgurlz Super 60: #34 White is one of the best post players in the nation and an absolute beast in the paint. She is getting tons of national interest but the Jays will certainly be in on her recruitment. White would replace current center Sarah Nelson and be an instant star for the Jays in the Big East. | OUT - Committed to Illinois |
| Chayla Cheadle | 5' 11" | Rock Bridge HS (Columbia, MO) Club: Missouri Phenom | Creighton, Texas Tech, Missouri, Kansas, Purdue, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Maryland | Versatile forward who can play on the post or as a big wing... lockdown defender ... Twin sister is 6' 1" Kayla, who is also receiving basketball offers but will likely go to college to play volleyball. | OUT - Committed to Kansas (and so did her sister Kayla) |
| Sylvia Smith-Gatson (JUCO) | 5' 11" | Central High (Omaha, Neb.) Trinity Valley CC (Athens, Tex.) | ESPN: **** One of the best bigs in recent memory in Nebraska ... this ESPN evaluation said it better than I can: "Has a power about her game with fluid athleticism and the ability to put it on the floor. Think point forward. Passing and handling skills are there" | INTEREST *going JUCO in Fall 2013 but the Jays will be involved when she wants to transfer |