Creighton women’s basketball will make its first appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament since 2002 when it plays the No. 3 seed St. John’s (NY) in the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, OK.
Creighton (20-12) received an automatic bid after clinching the MVC tournament title Sunday in a 53-38 victory over Drake. The tournament championship was Creighton’s first since 2002 and the first in head coach Jim Flanery’s 10-year career.
The Bluejays will look to turn over its late season success to the NCAA tournament. Creighton finished the season winning 14 of its 18 last game.
Flanery attributes much of that success to the offense becoming “unstructured.” Becoming less “set-driven” has allowed the young talent on the team to create motion and open jumpers.
This unstructured offense led to three stellar offensive performances from three players in the three victories in the MVC tournament.
In the quarterfinal game against Northern Iowa, senior forward DaNae Moore netted a career-best 15 points. Sophomore guard Carli Tritz went off in the semifinal game against Missouri State, scoring 27 points in the second half alone. Sophomore guard McKenzie Fujan made back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to open an insurmountable lead over Drake in the MVC title game.
Creighton is no longer playing MVC opponents, however. What Flanery and his squad face is a big, physical, and experienced team that has earned three straight NCAA tournament bids. St. John’s (22-9) has played with, even beaten, the best of the Big East Conference and the best of the nation. On Feb. 28, St. John’s downed Connecticut 57-56, ending UCONN’s home win streak at 99.
St. John’s has been led all season by junior guard Senneika Smith. Smith leads the Red Storm in both scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg). Four of St. John’s five starters average double digit scoring.Flanery believes his team is by no means out of this game. According to Flanery, Creighton’s unstructured offense will help against bigger and more athletic teams like St. John’s.
Creighton’s chances of pulling off an upset depend on the Bluejays’ ability to take good shots against a low-scoring St. John’s team.
“[St. John’s] doesn’t run up and down the floor a lot,” Flanery said, “They usually [score] in the 50s and 60s.”
Another key for Flanery is preparing for St. John’s in practice this week.“We are going to have to prepare well to give ourselves a chance,” Flanery said. Creighton has been preparing ever since the beginning of the season. During its nonconference schedule, the Bluejays played three tournament teams — No. 6 seed Nebraska, No. 11 seed Kansas and No. 1 seed Notre Dame. “Part of it is preparing for St. John’s,” Flanery said, “And part of it is doing what we do the best that we can do it.”