Head coach Jim Flanery ascends the ladder to cut down the net after Sunday's MVC championship victory. Admittedly awful photo by Pat Dangerous/WBR.
In the wake of the Bluejay men’s team’s eleventh Missouri Valley championship victory last week, Carli Tritz tweeted a photo of the MVC Championship trophy with a short caption: “I want one.”
Tritz, a sophomore guard, followed through on that goal this weekend, helping the Jays win their second conference championship in program history and with it, a berth to the NCAA Tournament. In Saturday’s semifinal game, she gave a historic effort against the favored Missouri State Lady Bears, scoring 27 of her 29 points in the second half and outshined MSU’s star guard, Casey Garrison. And in Sunday’s championship matchup with Drake, Tritz led all scorers with 19 points on her way to receiving the “Chuck Madness” Most Outstanding Player award.
Carli Tritz is congratulated by her teammates as she goes to accept the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. Photo by Pat Dangerous/WBR.
Tritz’s outstanding performance this weekend will certainly cement her place in Bluejay lore, but it would be foolish to overlook the rest of the team’s role in this championship. DaNae Moore, the team’s lone senior, scored a career-high fifteen points in Friday’s quarterfinal showdown with Northern Iowa. Moore was only a sophomore on the 2009-10 Creighton team that lost the championship at the buzzer to the Panthers, coached by another Bluejay star of old, Tonya Warren.
Perhaps motivated by this memory, Creighton looked impressive in their upset victory over Missouri State. The Omahans fell behind early by twelve points, but leaders like Moore and junior guard Ally Jensen helped keep the team’s composure. Carli Tritz outscored Missouri State in the second half, but it was sophomore forward Sarah Nelson who dominated play in the paint, finishing the game with twelve rebounds and six blocks. Sophomore wing Jordan Garrison and junior guard Ally Jensen hit several timely baskets to stem the Lady Bears’ momentum and keep Creighton in the game. And when shooting went cold, the Jays’ backcourt played some of their best defense all year and silenced the rowdy MSU fan contingent. The Lady Bears’ star player, Casey Garrison, scored eighteen points but the team had no answer for the Jays’ inside-out game.
The Drake Bulldogs earned an upset victory of their own on Saturday, beating third-seed Wichita State to advance to the final. The game was slow and often ugly, with both teams shooting well below their season averages. Both teams essentially traded baskets during the first half, but the early second half saw the Bluejays open up a fifteen-point lead. Mackenzie Fujan, a sophomore guard, scored on three straight possessions to put the Jays’s lead seemingly out of reach. MVC Player of the Year Rachael Hackbarth and the rest of the Drake squad slowly whittled that lead down to three, but the Bulldogs just could not seal the deal and pull ahead, visibly exhausted from playing four games in four days. Creighton, resilient as ever, rebuilt their lead in the closing minutes and ultimately won by fifteen.
It is apparent just how hard this Bluejay team works, and how well they work together. Head coach Jim Flanery and his staff deserve so much credit for engineering this team’s championship run. Creighton now has a record of 20-12, a downright stunning result for a young team so used to being the underdog. At this point, you have to think this team relishes that role. They’ll need to embrace it once more in the NCAA tournament, where they will doubtless receive a double-digit seed. As of Sunday evening, one bracketologist predicts the Jays will receive a 13-seed, traveling to Baton Rouge to play Georgia Tech in the first round. The selection show isn’t until Monday evening, but no matter who the Bluejays draw in the NCAA tourney, one thing is clear: they’ll need to draw on the same fighter’s spirit they’ve shown all season.
As the rest of the Valley learned this weekend, these young Bluejays are endowed with confidence and courage beyond their years. Now, ten years since Creighton’s last Women’s NCAA appearance, it’s time for Tritz and Moore to show the rest of the nation the same.