The Creighton women’s basketball team dropped its second straight Big East
conference game, 61-59 to Providence (5-19, 1-13), on Sunday afternoon in Providence, Rhode Island.
The win marked Providence’s first victory over a Big East opponent since March 1, 2015.
Despite committing six turnovers in the first quarter and allowing Providence to score seven points off those turnovers, the Bluejays held an early 16-13 first quarter lead.
With less than four minutes left in the quarter, the Bluejays drained back-to-back 3-pointers from junior MC McGrory and sophomore Myah Mellman before sophomore
Jade Owens made a running jumper in the lane to extend the lead to three in the closing seconds.
The Bluejays were unable to clean it up in the second quarter by turning the ball over eight times and allowing Providence to close out the half on a 9-4 run to take a 30-29 lead.
McGrory was the leading scorer for the Bluejays at half with seven points and Owens led the team with five rebounds and four assists.
In the third quarter, Providence extended its halftime lead by outscoring the Bluejays 20- 14 to take a 50-43 lead into the final 10 minutes.
The Bluejays began to slowly chip away at the lead by stringing together a seven quick points from two Audrey Faber free throws, 3-pointer from Owens and jumper from McGrory to cut the lead to 58-55 with 36 seconds to go in the contest.
Providence’s Sarah Beal went to the line after a quick foul by sophomore Sydney Lamberty to extend the Friars’ lead to five.
The Bluejays drained four consecutive free throws in the final few minutes to tighten the score to 60-59.
With eight seconds left, Owens stole the ball to reclaim possession for the Jays, giving them the chance to win the game.
With no timeouts remaining, and down by one, Owens passed it off to Lamberty, who forced a shot that went off the iron.
Providence finished the game at the line by completing one of two free throws to claim a 61-59 victory.
A major factor in the Jays’ shortcomings was their carelessness with the ball, committing 18 turnovers in the game.
McGrory finished with 18 points, while Owens scored 11 of her own. Owens led the team with seven total rebounds.
The loss dropped the Bluejays to 12-14 on the season and 6-8 in the Big East conference.
The Bluejays fell to eighth in the conference standings heading into the final four games of the season.
Creighton gets back on the floor on Friday night to host its annual Pink Game for Breast Cancer. They’ll take on Marquette (13-13, 8-7) at 7 P.M. at the D.J. Sokol Arena.