The Creighton women’s basketball team fell short of a Cinderella run after an 86-64 loss on Monday night to No. 3 seed UCLA.
“The last time they (UCLA) were disruptive, but tonight they were disruptive for longer stretches,” said Creighton coach Jim Flanery.
The Bruins were locked in from start to finish, taking the lead 4-3 with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter and never trailed again.
UCLA brutalized the Jays with constant full-court pressure that didn’t result in easy baskets when the Jays were able to beat it. The Bruins had an easier time against the Jays than their first-round matchup (a 71-60 win over No. 14 seed American) possibly because of their use of the press in the second round game against Creighton.
“They pressed against us more than they did against American,” Flanery said.
The Jays would try to keep the deficit to single digits, but the Bruins built a 23-13 lead with two minutes left in the first quarter and the Jays would never get the lead back to single digits. UCLA would extend its lead to 32-15 but Jays responded with a 7-0 run to get the game back to a 10-point deficit. But the Jays would never get any closer than this, as the Bruins would lead by as much as 28 points in the second half.
“We were focused for 40 minutes against a really good team,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I give them a lot of credit. They really competed.”
Junior forward Audrey Faber led the team with 20 points on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, and redshirt sophomore Olivia Elger added 13 points and three 3-pointers. The rest of the Jays combined for 31 points on 11-for-29 shooting from the field and 4-for-13 from 3-point range.
Senior guard Jordin Canada led the way with 21 points for UCLA, as five Bruins finished with double-digit scoring. The difference came on a 15-7 offensive rebounding edge for the Bruins and 18 turnovers committed by the Bluejays, which included 12 steals for the Bruins to Creighton’s one.
The Jays opened the NCAA Tournament with a first-round upset over No. 6 Iowa, 76-70, on Saturday night.
“I thought it was a great game,” Flanery said. “It’s still always a team game, I love our team, our chemistry, the fact that everyone plays a role and you need that to beat a great team like Iowa in the NCAA Tournament.”
The Bluejays showed their great teamplay through the fact that the nation’s leading scorer, junior forward Megan Gustafson had a double-double with 29 points and 17 rebounds on 12 of 16 shooting, but the Jays were able to limit Gustafson’s teammates to 14-for-40 shooting for 41 points. Creighton was able to win by shutting down every other Iowa player even though Gustafson was able to get what she wanted.
“We knew that she [Megan Gustafson] was going to be important in this game and she had a really good game,” senior guard Sydney Lamberty said. “We knew we needed to shut down their other players on the perimeter and let Gustafson do her thing.”
The first half saw eight ties and six lead changes, but the Bluejays would grab the lead 30-29 on a Lamberty 3-pointer with a little more than 31/2 minutes to go in the second quarter and would never trail the Hawkeyes (24-8) again. Creighton’s lead would fluctuate between two to nine points in the second half but the Jays would answer every Hawkeye run with big shots from Lamberty, who scored on four straight possessions in the fourth quarter, and sophomore forward Jaylyn Agnew, who had 13 points in the second half.
“My teammates were setting up really good plays for me to get the ball. The posts were setting really good screens,” Lamberty said. “It was an overall effort, there’s no way that I could have gotten the shots I did without them making the plays they were making as well.”
Agnew paced the Jays with 24 points and four 3-pointers, Lamberty added 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting, six assists and five rebounds and Faber racked up 12 points. Lamberty and Agnew combined for 28 of Creigton’s 42 second-half points.
“These two to my left [Agnew and Lamberty] were decent today,” Flanery said. “I mean they were fabulous.”
The Bluejays finish the season 19-13, 11-7 in the Big East, with strong victories over NCAA Tournament teams that included in-state rival Nebraska, Drake, South Dakota State, Villanova and Marquette. Creighton also lost to NCAA Tournament teams such as South Dakota, Florida State, DePaul and Marquette. The Jays played one of the toughest schedules in the country and only had bad losses to Washington, St. John’s, Butler and Georgetown.
The women’s team will return nine players to next year’s team, but the Jays will lose seniors Lamberty, Myah Mellman, Aimee Rischard, Bailey Norby and Kylie Brown to graduation.
As of right now the Jays have one player signed, Payton Brotzki, a three-star recruit from Platteview High School in Nebraska. This is the second straight year the Bluejays have made the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the first time this has happened in Flanery’s 16 years with the Jays.