Creighton University
Indiana State
Women's Basketball Wins 62-53 at Indiana State
1/22/2011 7:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Creighton never trailed in picking up a 62-53 women's basketball win at Indiana State Saturday afternoon. The Bluejays led by 15 at halftime and led by as many as 17 in the second half in the road win. Carli Tritz led the team with 18 points, six steals and five assists, while Sam Schuett poured in 17 points and team-high eight rebounds.
Creighton (11-7, 5-2 MVC) scored the first four points of the game and led 11-3 just over four minutes into the game. The Bluejays built their lead with the help of four Indiana State turnovers in the first four minutes of play. The Sycamores would get within five points, but the Jays would push ahead 23-10 with 8:19 left in the first half. ISU's Taylor Whitley drained a three-pointer with 8:03 left, capping off a run where she scored the first 13 points of the game for the Sycamores.
The Sycamores (9-9, 3-4 MVC) did not get a field goal from a player other than Whitley until 3:16 remained in the half on a Brittany Schoen made lay-up. Whitley made ISU's first seven field goals and scored 17 of her team's first 18 points, but it wasn't enough to help the Sycamores overcome foul trouble from both of their starting frontcourt players. Junior center Shannon Thomas entered the game averaging 12.9 points per game, but played just seven minutes and was 0-for-1 from the floor in the first half.
The Bluejays enjoyed their largest lead of the half as the clock hit zero thanks to Jasmin Corbin's buzzer-beating three-pointer. The score at halftime was 39-24 in favor of the Jays at the break. Tritz had 10 points and four steals in the first half, while Whitley finished with 17 points, but five turnovers in the opening half for ISU. CU hit 5-of-12 three-pointers in the first half, after making just 4-of-15 threes the entire game at Illinois State. CU forced 12 first-half turnovers and converted those into 11 points.
Tritz stole a pass from Whitley on the first possession of the second half and hit a pull-up jumper in transition to put the Jays up by 17 just 14 seconds into the half. With a 45-28 lead, the Jays witnessed Indiana State rattle off nine unanswered points to get within eight with 13:15 to play. That was as close as the home team could get to the Jays for the remainder of the game.
A pair of Schuett three-pointers late in the half helped seal CU's second straight win at the Hulman Center. ISU scored the final five points of the game over the final 85 seconds to make the final score 62-53.
Creighton shot just 28.1 percent in the second half to finish 34.4 percent (22-64) in the game. The Jays hit 8-of-28 (.286) three-pointers and 10-of-14 (.714) free throws in the game. CU out-rebounded the Sycamores 42-39, with 14 offensive boards, while the Jays swiped 10 steals and had just 10 turnovers in the win.
Tritz led the team with 18 points, career-high six steals, five assists and notched four rebounds. Schuett made 6-of-6 free-throws and 3-of-8 three-pointers, finishing with 17 points and team-high eight rebounds. Sarah Nelson made her second career start, scoring 11 points, including nine in the first half. Nelson added six rebounds and three assists. Kelsey Woodard tied Tritz for game-high honors with five assists, to go along with six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Whitley scored just two points in the second half to lead ISU with 19 points. Thomas scored 12 points, all in the second half, and no other Sycamore scored more than five points. Kelsie Cooley topped ISU with nine rebounds.
The Bluejays now return home for their longest MVC home stand since 1999, starting the four-game stand with league-leading Missouri State (15-4, 6-1 MVC) on Thursday. CU and MSU tip at 7:05 pm at D.J. Sokol Arena.
NOTES: Creighton had two freshmen in the starting lineup (Tritz, S. Nelson) for the first time since March 11, 2007 at Drake in the MVC Tournament championship game (Schuett, Megan Neuvirth) ... CU now has 98 MVC wins since the start of the 2002-03 season, the move in the MVC in that span, while Indiana State's 92 Valley wins is second in that time ... Woodard finished with five points after averaging 18.3 points per game in her first three career games at Hulman Center.
