Sydney Lamberty came alive in the 2nd half as the Jays rolled over Wichita State (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
For the twenty or so minutes of action, it looked like spectators were in store for another tight, grind-it-out affair on the hard court between Creighton and Wichita State. Then the young, but experienced Bluejays spread their wings out a little further and flew away from the depleted Shockers in the second half. Trailing 30-27 with 8:15 remaining in the third quarter, Creighton outscored Wichita State 33-3 over the next eleven minutes and forty-five seconds on their way to a 79-54 victory in their 2015-16 season opener on Friday afternoon.
Sophomore guard Sydney Lamberty scored 10 of her 12 points during the decisive run, and true freshman forward Audrey Faber scored nine of her team-high 14 points in the second half to help the Bluejays turn a 28-27 deficit at halftime into a rout by the end of the third quarter.
“We kind of broke down their plays in the locker room,” Lamberty said of the team’s halftime adjustments. “We were talking about what we needed to do, and who needed to switch. We definitely talked about getting out on the shooters, and knowing who can and cannot shoot, and where we can help off of. Then we just talked about slowing down. We were really sped up in the first half.”
It was hard to tell that Creighton was moving at all by looking at the score in the first half. Wichita State used every bit of the newly shortened 30-second shot clock, and when Creighton got the ball they would try to get instant offense to counter the Shockers’ slower tempo. The problem was they only made 40% of their shots in the first half and relied heavily on their perimeter game.
In the second half the offense worked more inside out, outscoring Wichita State 10-2 in the paint in the third quarter thanks mainly to junior center Brianna Rollerson’s eight points in three minutes that helped turn a 30-27 deficit into a 41-33 lead with 3:43 left in the period.
“I think that as we got into the game we kind of slowed down a little bit more,” junior guard MC McGrory said. “Sometimes out on the perimeter we were kind of just running in circles, so just being able to slow down and actually look at the post was helpful.”
McGrory finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and fellow junior guard Lauren Works chipped in 11 on 4-for-4 shooting, including a 3-for-3 day from beyond the arc. All 23 of their points seemed to come at crucial times for the Bluejays, especially in McGrory’s case. In the second quarter, the Minnesota native scored seven straight points for her team at a point in the game when it looked like they couldn’t buy a bucket on the offensive end or a stop on the defensive end. In a game that ended up 25-point rout, McGrory’s stretch in the second quarter kept Wichita State from getting a comfortable cushion going into halftime.
“You can point to obviously Lauren’s stretch in the third quarter, but I think being behind by six when [McGrory] hit her first three, and then hit a mid-range jumper, and a five-footer, those are big baskets,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery said. “At the pace that they wanted to play being down eight or ten at half would have been significant I feel like from a tightness standpoint, and for their confidence. I felt those baskets were big, and that’s one of the things you like about MC is she doesn’t settle for threes as much as others. Some of the other kids on our team we have to encourage them to put the ball on the floor more, whereas I think she’d prefer maybe the mid-range to a three, but still can make a three. But those were big baskets.”
While Wichita State dressed only eight players, the Bluejays sent 12 different players into the game. All playing at least seven minutes. Eleven of those 12 players scored, eleven grabbed a rebound, and 10 of the 12 had an assist. The depth is going to be a big factor for the Bluejays this season just as it was on Friday when the threw a full court press at the Shockers guards and wore them down as the game went on.
“I think it makes us a harder team to scout,” Faber said. “I mean you have to take into account so many more people. I think it just makes the game more fun, because we can count on so many different people to do so many different things, whether that be offensively or defensively.”
Marissa Janning was limited on her scoring, but found other ways to help with several assists (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Along with the quality of Creighton’s depth, one of the most encouraging things that Bluejays can take away from this outcome is the play of senior guard Marissa Janning. The two-time All-Big East selection and former conference player of the year only scored three points on 1-of-10 shooting, which in the past that usually meant a loss for the Bluejays. On Friday, when her shot wasn’t falling, she looked for her teammates to pick her up as she handed out a career-high nine assists to help the team finish with a 22-to-9 assist-to-turnover ratio for the game. A sign of a player who has matured and feels less pressure to be the leading scorer with more weapons at her disposal than ever before in her career, perhaps?
“Overall steadiness,” Flanery said. “There were a couple stretches we’re going to need her to be better, but I think for the most part that player who struggles that much probably wouldn’t give us what she gave us [today] two years ago, so hopefully that’s a growth and an evolution for her.”
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See photos from WBR Photographer Mike Spomer of the win over the Shockers.
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The 25-point win was the largest margin of victory for the Bluejays in a season-opener since a 75-46 victory over Wyoming back on November 13, 1998 — four seasons before Jim Flanery became the head coach. They won’t have much time to celebrate the accomplishment, however, as they’ll face a quick turnaround and Marist team on Sunday that is no stranger to making trips to the NCAA Tournament.
“Marist will be a challenge to get to know a lot, because they had quite a bit of turnover,” Flanery said. “They’ve got a really good post player, a kid who started at Vanderbilt and she’s a sixth-year senior, so she’s going to be a little older — she’s 6’3, a really good athlete. Then they’ve got a really nice wing player who is a first team preseason all-conference selection. And they’re a program that knows how to win. As I told our kids, they didn’t go to the NCAA Tournament last year, and I think that’s only the second time in the last ten years. They’ve won their league and conference tournament a boat load over the last ten years, so even with kids that haven’t had quite as much success, their staff and their kids are going to be ready to play. They’re playing at a tough environment tonight at South Dakota State, so they won’t bat an eye about playing here.”
The Bluejays and Red Foxes will tip-off at 11:05 a.m. (CST) at D.J. Sokol Arena. It will be the first meeting between the two programs.
Listen to Postgame interviews with head coach Jim Flanery and players Sydney Lamberty, MC McGrory and Audrey Faber