Creighton women’s basketball coach Jim Flanery said he knew the nonconference schedule would present some welcome challenges for the Bluejays.

But after losing a third straight game to a ranked team from the Big 12, falling 67-58 Saturday to No. 15 Oklahoma at D.J. Sokol Arena before a crowd of 1,453, Flanery is concerned with a lack of progress.

Flanery, who dropped to 1-12 against ranked competition in his tenure at Creighton, said it’s not so much the losses that bother him as much as the manner in which his team has come up short. The Bluejays have turned the ball over more than 20 times in each of their past three games, including 22 against Oklahoma, and haven’t been able to bottle up the top offensive threats from recent opposition.

Creighton (5-4) opened the second half with two Megan Neuvirth free throws for a 32-27 lead, but from there Oklahoma point guard Danielle Robinson took control.

Robinson led the Sooners (9-2) on a 10-0 run, racking up eight of her game-high 22 points in the four-minute, 22-second stretch. Robinson continually beat Creighton defenders off the dribble, slashing through the paint for easy baskets, and also had seven rebounds and five assists.

“We let her take over the game for stretches,” Flanery said of Robinson. “It’s frustrating because I told the team this morning that we let Kelsey Griffin do that at Nebraska, and we let Marquette’s best player do that.

“They’re obviously good players for a reason, but as an experienced team, we can’t let their best players beat us.”

Creighton would regain a 38-37 lead with 13:09 remaining on 3-pointers by Sam Schuett and Neuvirth, but Robinson’s layup with 11:59 left put the Sooners up for good.

Neuvirth led Creighton with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Schuett scored 16. The duo combined for all but three of Creighton’s 28 second-half points.

The Bluejays were able to stay in the game in the first half by outrebounding Oklahoma 20-15, and they survived 14 ball-handling miscues by putting together some good scoring runs.

But Creighton was outrebounded 24-15 and made just 6 of 26 shots from the floor in the second half. Oklahoma also held a 26-6 advantage in points in the paint.

“We played with a little bit more energy in the second half,” Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said. “We focused on communicating on the screens and following shooters. We weren’t going to let them get 3s up. I was happy with our halfcourt defense.”

With a week off before its last nonconference game against North Dakota State, Flanery said the team needs to use the time to get a better idea of where it’s going offensively.

“I’m disappointed,” Flanery said. “I don’t feel like we’ve progressed at the rate that I would have hoped, and we’ve got to coach better because we’re making way too many mistakes. We’ve played well in stretches at times, but not nearly well enough to think the we’re going in the right direction.”

@Agate 10.9 bold:Oklahoma (9-2) 2740—67

At Creighton (5-4) 3028—58

OU: Roethlisberger 3-7 1-1 8, Thompson 3-7 0-0 6, Olajuwon 2-4 0-0 4, Stevenson 5-13 0-0 11, Robinson 10-19 2-4 22, Willis 2-3 2-2 7, Cloman 1-4 2-2 4, McFarland 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 28-60 8-11 67.

CU: Schuett 3-6 8-8 16, Neuvirth 5-12 8-13 19, Nelson 2-8 1-2 5, Woodard 4-11 0-1 9, Herring 2-9 2-3 6, Crites 0-2 0-0 0, Jensen 0-1 0-0 0, Corbin 0-2 0-0 0, Frank 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 17-52 19-27 58.

3-point goals: OU 3-12 (Willis 1-2, Stevenson 1-4, Roethlisberger 1-5, Thompson 0-1), CU 5-13 (Schuett 2-4, Frank 1-1, Woodard 1-2, Neuvirth 1-3, Herring 0-1, Corbin 0-1, Jensen 0-1.) Rebounds: OU 39 (Robinson 7, Cloman 7), CU 35 (Neuvirth 9). Fouls: OU 25, CU 19. Assists: OU 11 (Robinson 5), CU 12 (Woodard 3, Jensen 3). Turnovers: OU 21, CU 22. Field-goal percentage: OU .467, CU .327. Free-throw percentage: OU .727, CU .704. Fouled out: OU: McFarland, Thompson. CU: none. A: 1,453.

Contact the writer:

444-1201, sports@owh.com

« Sports - Bluejays Today

Share