We continue our brief profiles of each member of the 2010-11 Creighton women’s basketball team. Join us each weekday from now until the women’s season opener against Liberty at the Wolfpack Invitational for an introduction to this year’s Bluejays, from freshmen to seniors.
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Kelsey Woodard has been a stalwart of the Creighton women’s basketball program. She is just three games shy of 100 games played in a Bluejay uniform and has started 82 of the team’s last 84 games. By the time she leaves the Hilltop, Woodard could take with her many individual records.
In her first year at CU, Woodard earned All-MVC Freshman team honors; the conference named her Newcomer of the Week a league-record six times. She led the Bluejays in free throw percentage (84.1%) and tied the team high in 3-pointers made (52) and 3-point percentage (43.6%). Woodard eventually moved into the starting lineup, where she was a fixture during the final 18 games of the season.
Woodard upped the ante during her sophomore campaign, leading the conference in 3-pointers made (88) and becoming just the third player in Creighton history to eclipse 80 made 3-pointers for a season. She also improved her free throw percentage (84.6%) and started all 34 games that season.
Last season, Woodard became the 21st Creighton women’s basketball player to join the 1,000-point club, joining her sister Kristi in that elite group. She also sits in fourth place in 3-pointers made in a career (193) and second in career free throw percentage. She is on pace to move up to third all-time in 3-pointers made and surpass her sister and finish in the top 10 on Creighton’s all-time scoring list.
However, for Kelsey, the individual accolades do not matter. She would trade those honors and all-time lists for a shot at the NCAA Tournament. “I try to not to think of it as pressure, and more as kind of motivation,” she told WBR. “We have been so close the past couple of years, so I think that just gives us extra incentive to go out there and work harder each day.”
Woodard has been known throughout her career as a long range threat, but she has worked hard this offseason to improve the rest of her game. “I have tried to improve my game, to be able to do more things off the dribble. That will help me clean up my game and become a whole player and play harder all the time. As a team we have really worked on playing together and playing for each other, to see what we can do as a unit.”
The schedule for this season includes a lot of tough games, but being an in-state product, the home game against Nebraska is one that Woodard has circled on her calendar. “I’m excited for the Nebraska game at home. We haven’t been able to beat Nebraska the last couple of years and to have them at Sokol Arena is going to be quite a fun game.”
It doesn’t matter who the Jays play; Woodard is excited for the season to start. “I’m really anxious to get it started. We have been practicing for a few weeks now, but we are ready to get games going and kind of put what we have been working on for show.”
The Bluejays start their regular season on Friday at the Raleigh Wolfpack Invitational, facing off first against Liberty and then either North Carolina State or College of Charleston on Saturday.
