• Box Score: Creighton 65, Evansville 33

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A Creighton women’s basketball team desperate for a win got one Thursday night in a most convincing fashion.

The Bluejays held Evansville to 32.6 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers in posting a 65-33 victory and improving to 7-8 before 565 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena. The win snapped a four-game skid that included losses in Creighton’s first three Missouri Valley games.

“I kept reading how this was the first time we had lost four in a row since this or that we had only started 0-3 one other time,’’ Creighton coach Jim Flanery said. “If I’m reading that, I’m sure our players are.

“We needed this, but I felt that we had made progress last week even though we lost both games. We kept telling them that if they keep practicing the right way and the attitude is good, you’ll eventually see the results.’’

Forget that the skid-breaking win came against an Evansville team that was 4-11 coming into the game and ranked last in the Valley in most significant offensive categories. The 33 points Evansville scored were the fewest against Creighton since the Bluejays held Nebraska Wesleyan to 31 in 1978.

“We needed a win, and we didn’t care who it was against or what the score was,’’ said Carli Tritz, who led the Bluejays with 15 points. “It’s been frustrating because we know we have the power on offense and defense to do it.

“But to see yourself 0-and-3 gave us some motivation. Coach still believes in us, and hopefully this will be a kick start to getting us on a little streak of our own.’’

The Bluejays’ four-game skid was their longest since the 2006-07 season, and the 0-3 start matched the worst start in conference play, which occurred during the same season.

The players tried to temper those negatives by realizing that three of the four losses came away from home against top-flight teams. The skid started on Dec. 21 when Colorado hit a last-second shot to pull out a 52-49 win and stay unbeaten in winning the Texas-San Antonio tournament.

After a home slip-up against Drake, Creighton’s two most recent losses came on the road against Missouri State and Wichita State. Those teams were picked first and third in the league’s preseason poll.

“I don’t think we lacked confidence, but everybody was frustrated,’’ Creighton center Alyssa Kamphaus said. “We feel like we’ve been working so hard in practice, but we just weren’t coming out with the outcomes we wanted.’’

Kamphaus grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with eight points, while guard Jordan Garrison joined Tritz in double figures with a season-high 11 points. Garrison made 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range.

Evansville led early in the game but fell behind when it had difficulty handling Creighton’s pressure defense. The Purple Aces also lost the rebounding battle 39-23.

“We’ve been struggling with rebounding,’’ Kamphaus said. “Flan kept telling us that was a reason why we were losing. That’s a big factor, and it helps that we did a lot better on that tonight.’’

Samantha Heck led Evansville (4-12, 1-4) with 15 points, but none of her teammates scored more than six. Nine of the 11 Bluejays who played scored at least four points.

“We played with a sense of urgency and an almost desperate feeling tonight,’’ Tritz said. “We were going to do anything we needed to do to get this win, and I thought our energy was really up because of that desperation.’’

Contact the writer:

402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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