Three days. That’s all that stands between the Creighton Women’s Basketball team and the top of the Missouri Valley Conference.
This weekend, the women will host two of the four teams that are a half game ahead of them in the standings as they attempt to move closer to the top of the conference.
In the midst of a four-game conference winning streak, the women first host the University of Northern Iowa, who are carrying their own three-game winning streak into the game. With Creighton losing two starters during the off-season, in addition to the emergence of UNI’s transfer Kim Wypiszinski, the team is looking at this game from a fresh perspective.
“They’ve got a very good transfer at the post,” junior forward Megan Neuvirth said. “Defensively we’ll need to adjust to playing someone we haven’t seen much of yet.”
Offensively, the Jays will look to take a route around Wypiszinski.
“Against UNI, we’re going to have to exploit the match-ups where we do have the advantages,” Neuvirth said. “Chevelle [Herring] is always going to be a tough cover for any team, so we’ve made sure we get the ball in her hands and create the space she needs. Our matchups while driving the ball are definitely what we want to exploit.”
Herring, a junior guard, acknowledged Creighton’s prowess on the drive, but was quick to point out the offence isn’t one-dimensional.
“We’ll definitely take the penetration route, since it seems those defenders can be pretty mismatched with us,” Herring said. “We have a couple players who make a lot from the outside, Kelsey Woodard is our main one, so it’s important we penetrate and get the ball inside to open up our three point shooters too.”
The Jays are in the top 10 in the nation in three-point shooting percentage and Woodard comes into the game averaging just less than three three-pointers per game.
On Sunday, the focus shifts to an afternoon game against Bradley, another team atop the MVC at the moment. Players on both sides will surely recall how close their previous meeting was.
“Last year was such a close game – losing by just a point – and it really came down to a few possessions at the end where we didn’t execute our game plan,” Neuvirth said. “It’ll be very similar to last year. They’ve got a lot of returning players. They get a lot of steals and are really strong offensively, so we’ve got to be smart on both sides of the ball.”
For Herring, reversing the Bradley result has important implications for the rest of the season.
“Knowing that we’re on a streak and we’ve been capitalizing on our chances gives us a lot of confidence going into a tough part of the schedule,” Herring said.