Creighton University
Bradley
Bluejays Hold Off Braves for 72-68 Women's Basketball Win
1/29/2012 5:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. - Carli Tritz scored a career-high 25 points and DaNae Moore added a career-best 12 points to lead the Creighton women's basketball team to a 72-68 win over Bradley Sunday afternoon. The Bluejays led by 13 with less than four minutes to play and had to hold off a hard-charge from the Braves to pick up their 19th win in 23 Missouri Valley Conference games at D.J. Sokol Arena.
The win moves Creighton to 11-9 on the year and 5-4 in conference play, while dropping the Braves to 11-10 overall and 2-7 in MVC action.
The Bluejays appeared set to cruise to a double-digit margin of victory, after a Sarah Nelson lay-up with 3:55 to play put the home team ahead 66-53. Bradley had other things in mind however, as the Braves scored the next 10 points of the game by hitting five of their next seven shots. The 10-0 run left the Bluejays with a 66-63 lead with 46 seconds to play.
Bradley then fouled Ally Jensen, who hit 1-of-2 free throws with 44.9 seconds left and then made both of her free-throw attempts with 34.2 seconds after a Bradley field goal miss.
Catie O'Leary drained a three-pointer with just under 30 seconds to play to bring the CU lead back to three, with the score 69-66 in favor of the Jays. Carli Tritz hit 1-of-2 free throws with 18.1 seconds left to push ahead by four, before the Braves responded with a pair of shots at the stripe with 5.4 seconds left to make the score 70-68 for CU.
Tritz capped her career-day and iced the Bluejay win with two free throws with 4.2 on the clock to let the final score read 72-68.
Tritz scored 19 of her game-high 25 points in the second half. The sophomore finished the day 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-7 at the line. Moore scored 10 of her career-best 12 points in the first half, while she added a season- and game-high nine rebounds for the Jays. CU's only senior hit her first six field goal attempts before ending the day 6-of-9 from the floor, also adding a game-high three steals.
Nelson joined Tritz and Moore in double figures with 13 points. CU shot 45.6 percent in the game, including 57.9 percent from inside the three-point arc. The Jays hit 16-of-25 free-throws (.640) and out-rebounded the bigger Bradley squad 40-32.
Katie Yohn led Bradley with 17 points, making 3-of-6 three-pointers. O'Leary finished with 15 points and game-high six assists, while Kelsey Budd chipped in 10 points and team-high five rebounds for the Braves. Leah Kassing, who entered the game averaging a double-double in league play, ended the game with just eight points and four rebounds in only 20 minutes of action.
The win was Jim Flanery's 110th Valley victory, moving him into fifth place on the league victory charts and past his predecessor Connie Yori for the most conference wins in school history.
The Bluejays are 5-4 through the first half of Valley play, the 17th time in its 20 MVC seasons it has owned a winning record at the turn. Creighton will continue its season-long home stand when it hosts first-place Wichita State (14-6, 8-1 MVC) on Thursday and preseason favorite Missouri State (13-6, 6-3 MVC) on Saturday.
