True freshman Marissa Janning continued her phenomenal play this season as she scored a career-high and D.J. Sokol Arena record 29 points in Creighton’s 67-66 win over the Drake Bulldogs (9-18, 4-12 MVC) on Sunday afternoon.
“We needed her to do what she did,” said Creighton head coach Jim Flanery, “because we weren’t good enough at the other spots. McKenzie [Fujan] probably had the second-best game, but she was in foul trouble. I just felt like nobody else really played with as much confidence offensively as we needed them to.”
The Minnesota-Native was especially big in the second half as she scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field as she helped Creighton (21-6, 13-3 MVC) overcome a nine-point second half deficit.
Janning opened the game by hitting two three-pointers on Creighton’s first two possessions as the Bluejays opened up a 9-3 lead over Drake in the first two minutes of the game. The Bulldogs buckled down after the shaky start and held Creighton to 2-of-11 shooting over the next 11 minutes. The Jays still lead 20-18 with 6:05 to play in the half when Drake senior center Stephanie Running hit a jumper from the baseline to tie the game at 20. A little over a minute later junior forward Morgan Reid found guard Mary Pat Specht on a backdoor cut for a layup to give the Bulldogs a two-point lead with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half.
It was Specht again untying the game, this time the 5-7 junior hit a three from the top of the key to give Drake a 25-22 lead with 3:37 left in the first half. Drake stretched the lead out to 30-24 one minute later on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Liza Heap. Drake kept the Jays at arm’s length the rest of the half and closed the period with a three-pointer by sophomore guard Kyndal Clark to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 37-30 heading into the break.
Clark led all scorers with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first half. Creighton was led in the first half by McKenzie Fujan. The junior out of Weston, Nebraska scored eight points, dished out two assists, and added two steals. However, she did pick up three fouls in the opening half. That combined with Drake’s defense on Creighton’s leading scorer Marissa Janning were key factors in the Bulldogs’ first half success.
Janning started the second half much like she did the first, scoring five points in the first four minutes to cut Drake’s lead to 41-39 with 15:23 to play. A little over a minute later Creighton’s Carli Tritz intercepted an outlet pass, dribbled up court, and found Fujan on the wing. Fujan then skipped it over to Janning in the corner for a three to bring Creighton within two again. Janning felt that plays like that one by Tritz made a big impact.
“I would say Carli was the game-changer, because she got those steals, she got those deflections, and she was in the right spot at the right time. She changed the game around because she was able to make extra passes and good passes on the backdoor cut [she and I] had. She really played well today.”
The game see-sawed back and forth for the next 11 minutes as there were seven lead changes and three ties over that span.
After two free throws by Drake freshman Ashley Bartow gave the Bulldogs a 60-59 lead with 3:28 remaining the Jays answered one final time when Carli Tritz found Sarah Nelson cutting towards the basket for a layup. The basket gave Creighton a 61-60 lead that they would not relinquish. Janning, who kept Creighton in the game as they battled back in the second half, scored the final six points for the Jays as they held off a late rally by the Bulldogs.
After watching the Creighton men’s team cut down the nets on Saturday afternoon, junior guard McKenzie Fujan and her teammates are anxious to experience that moment should they win their final two games against Evansville and Southern Illinois.
“The one thing we always talk about is getting the ring,” Fujan said. “Last year we won the [conference] tournament, but you don’t get rings for the tournament.”
Tritz added to that, saying, “It means something to us because we haven’t had [a regular season title] in a while. We also know that we’ve worked for it and we deserve it, and we want to get an at-large bid.”
The Bluejays quest for a regular season title will continue on Thursday, March 7, as they take on the Evansville Purple Aces (8-19, 6-10 MVC) at 7:05 p.m. from D.J. Sokol Arena. The Bluejays defeated the Purple Aces 70-63 back on January 5. Marissa Janning (22) and senior guard Ally Jensen (18) combined to score 40 points that day as Creighton dug out of an early 18-2 hole to get the victory.
Game Stats:
Drake / Creighton
Score: 66 / 67
FG/FGA/FG%: 24-55 (43.6%) / 23-52 (44.2%)
3FG/3FGA/3FG%: 7-17 (41.2%) / 6-20 (30.0%)
FT/FTA/FT%: 11-14 (78.6%) / 15-19 (78.9%)
Rebounding: 37 (Off: 11, Def: 26) / 28 (Off: 6, Def: 22)
Assists: 16 / 15
Turnovers: 14 / 11
Steals: 5 / 10
Blocks: 3 / 3
Scoring Leaders: Clark (18) / Janning (29 – new career-high)
Rebounding Leaders: Reid (12) / Nelson (6)
Assists Leaders: Reid (4) / Fujan (6 – ties career-high)
Steals Leaders: Marschner (2) / Fujan, A. Jensen, S. Jensen, Tritz (2)
Blocks Leaders: Specht, Marschner, Running (1) / Fujan, Nelson, Kamphaus (1)