Being in the starting lineup for more than three years would allow most players to accumulate stats and find themselves a place somewhere on their school’s record book. But for Creighton senior forward Sarah Nelson, she’s about to be in a class all by herself. Nelson, a local kid out of Omaha Westside High School, is four rebounds shy of becoming the 9th player in school history to grab 700 rebounds in her career, which will make her the first player in the 40-year history of Creighton women’s basketball to score 1,100 points (1,118), pull down 700 rebounds, dish out 250 assists (265), and break the century mark in both steals (103) and blocks (128). Along with all of that, if she averages 1.14 blocked shots per game (she averages 1.21 blocks per game for her career) over Creighton’s 22 remaining games, she’ll break Amy Hoffman’s school record of 152 blocked shots in a career.
Creighton’s Sarah Nelson (WBR/Mike Spomer) CLICK PHOTO TO BUY
Her head coach Jim Flanery, now in his 12th season leading the Bluejays, says he’s coached players who have affected the game in multiple areas like Nelson has, but all of those players were guards. “There hasn’t been a post player that can do what she does,” Flanery said. “Her assist numbers and her ability to distribute from her position are rare.”
Fellow senior Carli Tritz, who was part of the same freshman class as Nelson, says her teammates’ ability to play multiple positions makes things difficult on both ends of the floor for Creighton’s opponents. “She’s a huge mismatch,” Tritz said. “On the offensive end if defenses go with two bigs, usually a lot of them aren’t as quick or light on their feet or as finesse as she is. And she can switch with us on defense. We can switch one through four, because she can guard a point guard. I don’t know many four-players in the country that can do that.”
While the pending milestones and individual records are well within reach, it’s not something Nelson is keeping track of. To her it’s all about winning, “I honestly don’t even know what milestone you’re talking about,” Nelson said. “It’s about wanting to win and wanting to have a good season. Milestones are a good thing, but at the same time who cares if you score 30 points in a game that you lose. Winning is what’s important right now. Those are cool, but at the end of the day I just want to win.”
Described as a competitive kid by her teammates and coaches, it’s been that competitive drive and desire to win that has been the deciding factor in not only her success as a player, but also the example she sets for her younger teammates. According to Tritz, she is similar in that regard to a certain two-time, First Team All-American at Creighton on the men’s basketball team. “She’s naturally good, but she’s also a really hard worker. Obviously Doug (McDermott) is too, and he’s on a different level, but they kind of remind me of each other in how they’re both versatile and were kind of underestimated coming into college. They kind of made their own name and that gains respect.”
Tritz says Nelson is a good example to the younger players because she understands that you’re going to make mistakes and there will be times where things don’t go your way, but that it shouldn’t affect your preparation or effort. “I think she’s good with the underclassmen because she can tell them how to be a hard worker and not be a perfectionist. You have a fine line between the negative and positive of that. She’s a natural leader because she’s on the floor a lot and she shows people every day what hard work can do for you,” Tritz said.
“She doesn’t quit,” said senior guard McKenzie Fujan. “That’s something I admire about Sarah. She’s a great player and she doesn’t necessarily take people under her wing, but she leads by example in a lot of things. She’s a hard worker and I think a lot of our young players see that and take after it.”
Nelson and the Jays will try to turn that hard work into a few wins as they prepare for three games in three days at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas beginning Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. when they take on the Oregon State Beavers.