• Box Score: Creighton 61, Wichita State 59

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Any previous mentions by Creighton women's basketball coach Jim Flanery about his team being in a zone would more than likely have been a commentary on state of mind rather than defense.

“I've played a zone about 10 possessions in my first 10 years here,'' Flanery said.

But with Thursday's Missouri Valley game against first-place Wichita State on the line, the Bluejays' use of a zone defense wound up putting them in a euphoric state of mind.

Creighton played its “Buzz23” zone for the final dozen possessions and limited the Shockers to three baskets, the last coming after freshman Taylor Johnson had secured the 61-59 victory with a pair of free throws with seven seconds to play.

Johnson also made the basket that broke a 57-57 tie with 1:28 to play as the Bluejays handed Wichita State just its second loss in 10 Valley games before 665 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena.

Johnson's basket came on a hard drive through the teeth of the Wichita State defense.

“It came on one of our side out of bounds plays,'' she said. “It was a handoff and drive, and I just stuck with the play. Thankfully, the left-handed layup worked out. I was so excited when it went in. I was like, ‘Thank you!' ''

Ahead by two, Creighton twice denied Wichita State a chance to tie or take the lead. Haleigh Lankster missed a 3-point shot from the corner with 59 seconds and Creighton's Carli Tritz grabbed the rebound.

After Creighton missed its last shot with 31 seconds left, Wichita State center Jazimen Gordon misfired on two point-blank shots. DaNae Moore rebounded the second miss, and Johnson was fouled seconds later. Her two free throws finished off a 12-point performance.

“I knew I could make them,'' said Johnson, a 77 percent free-throw shooter this season. “I just had to stay focused.''

Lankster made a meaningless basket at the buzzer, leaving the Creighton players to celebrate their sixth victory in the past seven games. Overall, Creighton improved to 12-9 and 6-4 in the league, while Wichita State dropped to 14-9 and 8-2.

Statistically, Creighton's 47-22 rebounding edge played a key role in the victory. It produced a 17-2 edge in second-chance points and helped offset the 21 turnovers the Bluejays committed.

Equally important was Creighton's ability to maintain its composure when Wichita State's athleticism had the Bluejays on the ropes in both halves. The Shockers rattled off 14 straight points in the opening half, but Creighton managed to take a 30-29 lead into halftime.

Wichita State was up six and appeared to have things rolling with 13½ minutes to play before the Bluejays again settled down.

“Early in the season, these were the kind of games we were losing,'' said Tritz, who led Creighton with 15 points. “We were giving teams that 9-0 or 10-0 run. But we're believing in ourselves now. We'll give up a run and we know we're still fine.

“We feel like we have things going for us right now and there's no reason to get down because we can beat any team in our league. It's confidence.''

That confidence was lacking the first couple of times the Bluejays worked on playing the 2-1-2 zone that they employed Thursday. Flanery had decided that the Bluejays needed to spring a different look on teams as they headed through the second half of conference play.

Flanery had considered using the zone in last week's games against Northern Iowa and Bradley.

“There are some teams in our league that are quicker on the perimeter than we are,'' he said. “We needed to have something when we're struggling to contain the dribble.''

Tritz said the results were disastrous the first time CU worked on the defense in practice. But the players kept after it, and the result was a difference-maker down the stretch.

“Late in the game, I asked them what they wanted to play defensively,'' Flanery said. “They said zone. So that's what we went with.''

Contact the writer:

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