Last time out: Creighton (16-8, 10-3) bounced back to beat Bradley after a loss to first-place Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls last Thursday. Kelsey Woodard knocked down five 3-pointers in the win over Bradley as she finished with 21 points. Sam Schuett and Carli Tritz also finished in double figures, as usual. Ally Jensen, who was one of the Jays’ top threats from beyond the arc last year, seems to be shooting the ball better as of late. She began the first half of conference play shooting under 15 percent from distance, though it looks like her confidence is still there. Carli Tritz finished with 18 points against UNI and 10 points against Bradley, which was good enough to earn her a conference record seventh Newcomer of the Week Award. Despite the honors, her stat sheet isn’t as clean as you’d think. In the Bradley game, she accounted for seven of Creighton’s 17 turnovers and three of the team’s 10 turnovers in the UNI game. Not good. She’s had some trouble not turning over the ball this season, which is typical of freshmen, though she’s not a typical freshman. The guard is averaging nearly 30 minutes a game and frequently brings the ball up the court.
Next up: The Jays will host what could be their final two home games of the year. Indiana State and Illinois State come to town, which should give Creighton a prime opportunity to create space between themselves and third-place Illinois State. Two wins would make it extremely challenging for ISU-red or Missouri State to snatch the #2 seed away from the Jays. After losing to UNI, first place is a highly unlikely possibility with just five games remaining in conference play so they should be focusing on locking up the second spot in the MVC.
Indiana State: The Sycamores (12-11, 6-6) are coming off a home win over Wichita State after dropping their previous two games. The win over the Shockers put them in fifth place, a half-game ahead of Drake. Coach Teri Moren is in her first season with ISU and first season as a Division I head coach overall. Her team is led by sophomore Taylor Whitley who averages 11.3 ppg. Junior Brittany Schoen is ISU’s other player averaging in double figures with 10.7 ppg. Fellow junior Shannon Thomas leads the Sycamores and the Valley with 8.5 rebounds per game.
How to beat Indiana State: The Jays shouldn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to take down the big trees. Shannon Thomas is 6-4 and provides a nice inside presence for them, so Coach Flanery will need some solid post play from freshmen Sarah Nelson and Alyssa Kamphaus, who will get some playing time with the injured Kellie Nelson unlikely to log many, if any, minutes. If the Creighton frontcourt can play well, open looks should be there from outside.
Prediction: 63-50 Jays. Creighton is playing good basketball despite dropping the game to UNI last week. They won’t want to take any steps backward with the regular season winding down.