• Box Score: Creighton 68, Illinois State 59

* * *

Creighton's second-half rally that produced Friday night's 68-59 win over Illinois State was powered by the high-octane message coach Jim Flanery delivered at halftime.

Upset with his team's offensive execution in the first half, Flanery passed out few words of praise at the break.

“He didn't sugar-coat things,” Creighton guard Carli Tritz said. “We're not a selfish team, but it's selfish when you don't set good screens, when you don't read screens being set for you. We knew we had to do something extra in the second half.

“It was a case that we needed to start playing smarter rather than harder.”

Tritz scored all 16 of her points after halftime as the Bluejays outscored the Redbirds 45-30 in the final 20 minutes of the game that drew 1,183 fans to D.J. Sokol Arena for Creighton's annual “pink-out” game.

“The crowd was awesome,” said Sarah Nelson, who had 12 of her 15 points in the second half. “They really got into it once we started kicking things into gear.”

The Bluejays gave the turnout little to cheer about in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 30.8 percent from the field and committing a dozen turnovers. What particularly irked Flanery was the lack of screens his players were setting in an attempt to move the ball against the Redbirds' defense.

“Before the game, I told them we needed to be a great screening team tonight,” Flanery said. “I went around the room and asked each player how many screens did you set? No one gave me an answer higher than two.

“That was the message right there. We were trying to do something without the aid of ball movement, and against good defensive teams you can't expect to go get a shot without moving the ball.”

Creighton's 29-23 halftime deficit might have been larger had its reserves not turned in some good minutes. The Bluejays' starters combined to shoot 2 of 13 from the field and commit 10 turnovers.

“Our bench came up big for us tonight,” Flanery said.

Creighton opened the second half with a 13-3 run that produced a 36-32 lead with 16:19 to play when Tritz converted a three-point play. The Redbirds came back to tie the game at 37 and 40 before Nelson scored five points in a row to ignite an 11-4 spurt.

The Redbirds were still within 56-54 with 4:06 left before Nelson hit a basket, DaNae Moore a free throw and Tritz scored eight straight — six on free throws — to seal the win for the Bluejays (14-11, 8-6 Missouri Valley).

Illinois State, which came into the game tied for first place in the league, dropped to 14-10 and 9-4. Jamie Russell had 21 points to pace the Redbirds, who were leading the nation in 3-point percentage (40.5) but made just 4 of 15 shots from beyond the arc.

“Russell definitely kicked our butts,” Nelson said. “They were in it almost down to the end.”

Nelson grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with her 15 points in notching her ninth double-double of the season. She also had a career-high four blocked shots, while Tritz had four steals and five assists.

Creighton shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half after making just 8 of 26 shots in the first 20 minutes. Ally Jensen made 3 of 4 shots, including a pair of clutch 3-point attempts, to finish with 12 points.

“When we didn't make shots in the first half, our heads got down on defense,” Nelson said. “We did a lot of standing around and waiting in the first half. We got it going once we started setting some screens and moving.”

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
twitter.com/PivOWH

« Sports - Bluejays Today

Share