Creighton University
Bradley
Bradley Defense Freezes Jays in 63-57 Women's Basketball Upset
1/22/2010 10:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. - Bradley held Creighton to 22.7 percent shooting from the field and survived 32 personal fouls while escaping Omaha with a 63-57 win over the Creighton women's basketball team Friday night at D.J. Sokol Arena.
The Braves improved to 8-8 on the season and are 4-2 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Creighton dropped to 10-6 and is now 5-2 in Valley action.
Creighton fell behind 5-0 before a Kellie Nelson free throw broke the ice, and was trailing 10-1 after 5:40 before Megan Neuvirth made CU's first field goal on the team's fifth attempt of the evening. Bradley went up 14-3 on a trey from Katie Yohn as Creighton endured a 1-for-11 slump (0-for-7 from three-point land) with five turnovers in the game's opening 10:10.
Bradley would see its 16-5 lead get trimmed to two points when CU put together a 9-0 run over a three-minute span, with seven of those points coming at the line. The parade to the stripe continued as CU made 12-of-15 free throws over a six-minute span, drawing within 20-19 at the 3:59 mark.
Bluejay senior Chevelle Herring hit a three-pointer at the 3-minute mark of the first half as Creighton took its first lead, 22-20. It was the Jays first trey after missing on its first 10 attempts from long-range.
Bradley would score the final five points of the first half, including two free throws with 0.5 seconds left by Hanna Muegge, to take a 26-25 lead into the locker room.
Creighton shot a miniscule 22.7 percent in the first half, as each of its five starters accounted for one field goal in the team's 5-for-22 effort. Neuvirth led the Jays at the break with eight points, thanks in part to 6-of-6 shooting from the line. Bradley was 9-for-19 at the break from the floor (47.4 percent) and made half of its 10 free throw attempts.
After a couple lead changes early in the second half, Bradley used a 7-0 surge to go up 36-30 on a corner three-pointer from Jenny Van Kirk. The Braves would maintain that lead until a pair of Herring free-throws gave the Jays a 41-40 lead with 10 minutes to play.
Tied at 46, the Braves answered with three consecutive baskets inside, getting two scores from Latasha Hollingshed and one from Brooke Bisping to move ahead 52-46 at the four-minute mark. CU cut that margin to four on a Schuett score. Hollingshed buried two free throws with 2:26 to play, upping the BU lead back to six.
Crites answered with a reverse lay-up in traffic and Hollingshed fouled out with 2:00 left on an offensive foul. CU guard Kelsey Woodard drained a three-pointer with 1:43 left to bring CU within one point, down 54-53, and get the Bluejay crowd on their feet before Bradley used a four-point trip to make it a five-point lead. Raisa Taylor made a lay-up and was fouled. She would miss the free-throw, but Sonja Harris was there with the offensive board and stickback.
Crites split two more at the foul stripe with 1:18 left, as BU's lead moved to 58-54. Neuvirth then picked off a pass on the defensive end, her fifth steal of the game, with 1:04 left. She would be fouled and drain both foul shots, making it 58-56 Bradley with 1:04 to go.
Bradley would beat the CU press and find Harris for a lay-up with 45.1 left. Nelson was hacked with 35.4 to play. She made the first and grabbed her own offensive rebound, only to turn it over when Yohn stole her pass back out to the perimeter and was fouled with 27.5 seconds left. Yohn, a 57.9 percent shooter, made the second to stretch the BU lead to four.
Van Kirk led Bradley with 18 points while also grabbing a team-best six rebounds. Taylor scored 11 points for the Braves. The Braves shot 51.2 percent from the field (22-43) and 15-of-26 at the line (57.7 percent). The Braves also outscored CU 32-14 in the paint and 32-6 off the bench.
Creighton was led by Schuett's 13 points and nine rebounds, while Nelson (11), Neuvirth (10) and Woodard (10) also scored in double-digits. Creighton's 10-of-44 shooting from the field (22.7 percent) was its lowest since shooting just 21.9 percent against Drake last Feb. 27. The season-low field goal percentage was coupled with a season-low three-point percentage, shooting 3-for-23 from downtown (13.0 percent). Creighton made a season-high 34-of-48 free-throws, to shoot 70.8 percent at the stripe.
Creighton will host Northern Iowa on Sunday at 2:05 pm. The Panthers (7-10, 3-3) defeated Drake in Des Moines, 59-46, on Friday.
NOTES: Sam Schuett made all eight of her free-throw attempts to run her streak to 34, third-longest in Missouri Valley Conference history and believed to be a school record ... Creighton is now 10-1 when leading at halftime and 0-5 when trailing at the intermission ... Megan Neuvirth moved into a tie for second place on CU's all-time rebounding chart, grabbing four boards to match Shannon Struby's 824 in her career ... Neuvirth had five steals and now owns 251 in her career ... Kellie Nelson set a career-high by attempting 14 free throws ... Bradley's starting center, Leah Kassing, fouled out with 10:00 left in the second half ... Creighton's 48 attempts at the line were its first time shooting 40 or more free throws since shooting an MVC-record 56 free throws against Wichita State on Jan. 1, 2001 ... The 22.7 percent shooting for Creighton tied the third-best defensive effort in Bradley history, and was its best since holding Texas Southern to 20.6 percent shooting on Dec. 5, 1992.
