Cavel Witter

Creighton won its 10th straight game in conference play with a 68-57 victory over Evansville Thursday night at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. The Jays were led in scoring by junior guard Chevelle Herring who tied her career-high of 21 points with five three-pointers. Junior guardKelsey Crites and senior center Kristina Voss added 10 points each, while junior forward Megan Neuvirth pulled down 15 rebounds to help lead the Jays to victory.

When asked about the tenth straight victory for the jays, Herring said, “it is well-deserved. It was a tough beginning of the season playing Big 12 teams and losing our first two conference games, but we stuck together and I’m just glad to see things go our way.”

The Jays defense has been one of the top defenses in the MVC, holding their opponents to under 65 points in the last eight games. The Jays were able to hold the Aces to less than 60 points with 37 percent field goal shooting for the game. They also forced 12 turnovers, the result of which was 18 points.

The game began with both teams going back and fourth in scoring. The Jays led at halftime by a margin of 31-25. The were able to start the second half with a 20-12 run with two back-to-back buckets by sophomore center Kelly Nelson that gave the jays a 14 point lead with 51-37 at the 12:05 mark.

“We just came out and played with more energy,” Herring said. “Evansville is a scrappy team that you don’t want to go down to the wire with. We just said focus and were able to play good defense and execute on offense.”

They Jays are on the longest winning streak since the 2001-02 squad, who won the conference title and made to the NCAA tournament field of 64. When asked about how the two teams compare, coach Jim Flanery said, “Both teams play well together and do certain things really good. The 2001-02 team really played offense at a high level. For this team, defense is the thing we do best. Both teams are able to shoot three pointers on consistent basis as well.”

Creighton is now 15-8 on the year and second in the MVC at 10-2 in conference play while the Purple Aces dropped to 9-14, 2-10 in Valley play. The Jays will host Southern Illinois Saturday, February 14 at the Civic Auditorium at 2:05.