Creighton University
0-1
Wichita State
1-0
Women's Basketball Drops Season Opener at Wichita State, 65-56
11/15/2014 5:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
WICHITA, Kan. - The Creighton women's basketball team suffered a season opening loss at Wichita State, 65-56, on Saturday, Nov. 15. The Shockers moved to 1-0 with the win, while the Bluejays fell to 0-1.
The Bluejays opened the game with a first bucket as senior Alexis Akin-Otiko grabbed an offensive board then dropped in a two-footer off glass. Wichita State responded with back-to-back buckets as the teams went back-and-forth for the opening eight minutes.
Akin-Otiko got Creighton back within a point at 10-9 (12:55), but the Shockers responded with six straight to build their largest lead at 16-9 with 9:26 left in the opening period. Down 18-11 moments later, junior Marissa Janning rallied her troops with the first three-pointer of the game. After a Wichita State bucket, sophomore MC McGrory followed with a running jumper and fellow second year player Brianna Rollerson drained two free throws to make it 20-18 (4:21).
Down one in the closing moments of the first half, 26-25 with 43 seconds remaining, Wichita State took advantage of a couple of Bluejay miscues to take a 30-25 edge in at the break.
"The end of the first half hurt us," said head coach Jim Flanery. "We had a two-for-one situation and gave up something easy, then a turnover led to two more."
Creighton came out strong at the start of the second period, outscoring the Shockers 8-2 to reclaim the lead at 33-32. McGrory and Rollerson got the Bluejays rolling with back-to-back buckets. Following a Shocker bucket, Rollerson dropped in one-of-two from the charity stripe and senior Sammy Jensen drilled a shot from down town with 16:54 left in the game.
The teams traded buckets with the Bluejays matching their largest lead at 42-40 on a layup by Rollerson (11:11). Wichita State, however, used a 19-3 run over the next nine minutes to take the game.
Janning led Creighton with 18 points, while Rollerson finished with 11 and McGrory had 10 points.
Wichita State's Alex Harden posted a game-high 25 points to lead the Shockers, while Michaela Dapprich finished with 15 points.
Creighton returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 18 as the Bluejays travel to Brookings, S.D. to face South Dakota State at 7:00 p.m.
