You could say that January 24, 2010 was a pretty big day for the Creighton Women’s basketball program. Not only did they use their biggest comeback in years to defeat UNI, but also after seeing the thrilling finish, they received a verbal commitment from Carli Tritz, who is arguably the program’s best freshman. Ever. (This week she was awarded the MVC Newcomer of the Week award for the fifth time in eight weeks. With another eight weeks left of the regular season, she’s got more than a good chance to snag the award twice more, which would push her past current Bluejay teammate Kelsey Woodard who holds the conference record at six.) Ultimately, UNI coming to town last year was a pretty good deal for coach Jim Flanery. Away from Omaha, that certainly was not the case.
Last year: In the first regular season battle, as aforementioned, the Jays needed quite the comeback to walk out of D.J. Sokol Arena with the “W”. After falling behind by as many as 18 points in the second half and still trailing by 14 with 8:17 remaining in the game, it absolutely looked like a blowout was ensuing. But an old fashioned three-point play by Kelsey Crites cut the lead to 11 and started a quick 9-0 run. The Jays used a heavy dose of the Neuvirth/Schuett/Herring trifecta to finish the game on a 28-10 run and come away with a 62-58 victory. Those three finished with 20, 14, and 12 points, respectively.
The next two matchups with the Panthers are sort of forgettable. And by “sort of forgettable”, I mean extremely forgettable. The Jays were outplayed from start to finish when they played in Cedar Falls. In a game where the UNI led for the final 38 minutes, Flanery’s squad couldn’t cut to within six of the lead in the second half while losing the rebounding battle 42-26.
Talking about the Jays’ final bout with UNI last season could be equated with pouring salt in a wound or talking about your pet dog that was recently put down (Miss you Shadow!). Essentially, it’s not something that the 2009-10 would probably prefer to talk about, so I guess I will instead:
The 2010 MVC Tournament championship game consisted of the #2 seed, Creighton, squaring off with #5 seed UNI. A back and forth game was eventually broke open by the Jays in the second half. Then tragedy struck. A 53-45 lead with 7:46 remaining wasn’t enough to hold off the feisty Panthers. If it had been a 55-45 lead or even a 54-45 lead, the outcome might have been much different. Instead, Coach Flan saw his team go ice cold, finishing the last seven minutes of the game 0-7 from the field and with six turnovers. Creighton didn’t score a point in that time span. They also didn’t receive a bit of help from the refs. As Megan Neuvirth ran into a brick wall in the form of a Panther post player in the closing seconds of the game, they ate their whistles and calmly jogged off the court as UNI advanced to the NCAA tournament, much to the chagrin of the Bluejay faithful. Talk about salt in the wound.
This year: Creighton sits atop the standings as the only team with an unblemished conference record at 3-0. Despite being picked third in the preseason poll, they currently sit above Missouri State (4-1) and Northern Iowa (3-1) who were picked first and second. UNI gave Missouri State its only loss in conference play, while they slipped themselves last week to Illinois State, in Normal. This should be Creighton’s first real test in the Valley as their past three opponents (Drake, Southern Illinois, and Evansville) combine for a 3-7 conference record.
What to look for: If the Jays plan on being successful, Carli Tritz will be the difference-maker. She leads the team and ranks second in the conference with 39 steals on the year, while UNI ranks second nationally in the fewest turnovers per game category as they average just 12.7 per game. If the freshman phenom can disrupt the Panther backcourt, this one could be over in a hurry. But if that same Panther backcourt can keep their composure, pulling out a victory on the road is very possible. They are 5-4 on the year in true road games, though Creighton is 17-4 all-time at D.J. Sokol Arena.
Prediction: 58-52 Jays. Creighton pulls out the victory making free throws down the stretch.