Creighton University
Evansville
Women's Basketball Edges Aces 42-41
2/13/2010 2:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. – Creighton snuck by Evansville 42-41 Saturday at D.J. Sokol Arena, needing a pair of Chevelle Herring free-throws with 18.2 seconds left in the game to get by the last-place Purple Aces. The Bluejays played without leading scorer Megan Neuvirth, who did not dress due to a sprained ankle suffered in the second half against Southern Illinois on Thursday night. Sam Schuett stepped up to lead the Bluejays with a season-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.
Creighton (15-7, 10-3 MVC) opened the game on a 14-2 run, as the Purple Aces struggled to find their shooting touch. The Aces (4-20, 1-12 MVC) went better than eight minutes between field goals, when an Amy Gallagher layup with 9:33 left ended the drought and made the score 14-5 in CU's favor.
The Bluejays were then abandoned by their offense with a better than eight-minute field goal drought of their own. Kelsey Woodard's layup with 2:40 left snapped the skid and gave the Jays a 17-12 lead. CU took a 19-15 lead into halftime as the Aces shot just 14.7 percent, making 5-of-34 shots in the first half. CU wasn't much better, hitting 6-of-25 for 24 percent.
Creighton led by as many as nine in the second half, but the Aces pulled even at 36 with 3:44 remaining in the game. Evansville took its first lead of the game when Meagan Collins hit a three-pointer with 2:14 to play to give UE a 41-38 lead. Schuett answered with a layup to cut the Aces lead to one with 1:47 left.
The Aces committed turnovers on their next two possessions, one with 1:13 to play and the next with just 28 seconds on the clock. Herring was then fouled to get to the line for a one-and-one opportunity with 18.2 ticks left on the clock. The fifth-year senior stuck the first shot to tie the game at 41 and nailed her second to give CU the lead.
Stephanie Bamberger's shot underneath the basket with 3.5 seconds left was blocked out of bounds by Woodard and the Aces called a timeout to set up the game-winning shot attempt. The ball was inbounded to Collins, who attempted a three-pointer from nearly the exact same spot as her previous try, but the shot was too strong off iron and Schuett pulled in her final rebound of the day to secure the win.
The Jays made the game closer than it should have been by going 10-for-20 at the free-throw line for a season-low 50 percent at the stripe. CU missed Neuvirth on the glass, as without the second-leading rebounder in school history it was out-rebounded by the worst rebounding team in the MVC, 49-45, as the Aces managed 17 offensive boards in the contest.
Creighton did block a season-high 10 shots, led by a career-high five from Kellie Nelson. Nelson also added a career-best 12 rebounds for the Jays. Only four players scored for CU, as Woodard and Herring each had seven points and Nelson chipped in six. The CU bench did not score a point in the win.
CU shot 28.6 percent (14-49) from the field and 4-of-21 (.190) from three-point range. UE ended the game shooting 22.7 percent (15-66) from the floor and 3-of-16 (.188) from long range, while making 8-of-11 (.727) free-throws.
The 42 points were the fewest scored in a Bluejay win since they beat Doane 40-23 on Feb. 21, 1977.
Gallagher, a Neligh, Neb., native, led the Aces with 15 points, while Bamberger added 11 rebounds to lead UE.
Creighton will hit the road for its next three games, starting with a road contest at Bradley on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
