The Creighton women’s basketball team ended its six-game winning streak with a 78-76 loss against DePaul Friday night.
Senior forward Alexis Akin-Otiko, sophomore forward Brianna Rollerson, and sophomore guard MC McGrory helped the Bluejays keep it close.
“With the energy in the building, you’d think you’d be the team that’s making those plays, by in large we weren’t. I thought we did a good job on the offensive glass but not good enough on the other end,” coach Jim Flanery said.
The Bluejays knew this was going to be a tough game; they were going against the No. 1 team in the the conference as well as one of the best players in the conference.
DePaul (21-7, 13-3 Big East) senior guard Brittany Hrynko averaged 19.6 points per game coming into Omaha and had 27 points in the previous game against Creighton.
The Bluejays lost to the Blue Demons 96-71 on Jan. 23.
Creighton (15-11, 8-7) kept a tight hold on Hrynko in the first 13 minutes of the game, letting her get away with only four points. The hold didn’t last long as Hrynko proceeded to score 16 points in the last seven minutes of the first half.
“One person is not going to be able to stop her, so as a team I think we needed to show a little bit more urgency to stop her and maybe make some other kids beat us,” McGrory said.
Hrynko finished with a game-high 33 points. The most by an opposing player during the history of D.J. Sokol Arena.
McGrory and Rollerson helped to set the Bluejays up during the first half by attacking the basket and getting rebounds. McGrory had 12 points going into the second half and Rollerson led the team with 6 rebounds.
A rough start in the second half allowed the Blue Demons to pull away from the Bluejays by 10 with 6:30 remaining.
Creighton made a comeback with plays from Akin-Otiko, freshman guard Sydney Lamberty and freshman guard Jade Owens.
With just under a minute left, the Bluejays were down 78-73. Akin-Otiko managed to get the rebound off of Janning’s missed 3-pointer. She then took the ball to the basket and converted a three-point play.
The Blue Demons were able to run down the clock with the help of an offensive rebound on their next trip, allowing Creighton only a few seconds to spare.
“When the shot goes up, you just can’t stare and look at the ball; you got to go in there, rebound, hit a body, or something. They got the offensive rebound and it kind of hurt us a little bit; they were able to cut off some time,” Akin-Otiko said.
Creighton was left with five seconds to make one last play to tie the game. Lamberty recovered a rebound off a missed free throw and threw it to McGrory to make the final play.
McGrory quickly ran down the court making it to the three-point line where she threw up a shot that knocked the rim and bounced off to the side.
“We shot the ball well enough and we held them to a few fewer 3s than they got us the last time, but the offensive rebounding was the biggest disappointment,” Flanery said.
Creighton will host Marquette Sunday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m., for the final home game of the season and Senior Day.