Some basketball players are natural-born scorers.

Sam Schuett isn't one of them.

The Creighton junior was a reluctant shooter her first two seasons in the program. Take a big shot? Most times, Schuett would take a pass on that and get the basketball to one of her teammates.

“She drove us crazy those first two years,'' Creighton assistant coach Steve Huber said. “We could see how talented a kid she was, but we just couldn't get her to take a big shot.''

Schuett and Bluejays' coach Jim Flanery credit Huber for helping develop her into the scorer she has become for the Bluejays (12-6). The 6-foot forward from Millard West is averaging 12.4 points per game for a Creighton team that heads into the final half of the Missouri Valley Conference play in second place.

In the Bluejays' nine league games, Schuett is averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range. After making 39 3-point baskets in her first two seasons combined, Schuett already has 34 this season.

Schuett will take a string of 11 straight double-figure scoring games into tonight's contest at Missouri State. She also leads the Bluejays in rebounding with an 8.1 average, 8.9 in conference games, while drawing some of the toughest defensive assignments game-in and game-out.

She has stamped herself as a player-of-the-year candidate, although the modest Schuett would downplay such talk. She credits the confidence her teammates have shown in her, as well as their ability to get her the ball, as reasons for her offensive improvement.

Flanery and Huber see it differently. Schuett has worked hard to refine her skills as a shooter after sitting out last season with an ankle injury. In turn, she's developed a confidence in her game that was at times lacking as a freshman and sophomore.

“Coach Huber has worked with her, and I think he's done a really good job,'' Flanery said. “It wasn't just about working her skills, but also working her confidence to get her to believe that she isn't just a third or fourth option but a first or second option.''

Schuett's on-court personality differs from teammates such as Megan Neuvirth or Chevelle Herring. They are naturally aggressive players who have never shied away from the risk-reward that comes with having the ball in their hands and the game on the line.

“Sam's become someone that is willing to take big shots for us,'' Flanery said.

A key to Schuett's development, Huber said, has been getting her to stretch her comfort zone. To do that, he tried to put her in pressure situations during the offseason shooting sessions.

“Sam's a kid that goes 120 percent, full-bore all the time,'' Huber said. “It just made sense to put her in situations where it was game on the line, hit a big shot to win it for us. It was about changing her mind-set to where she wanted to take the big shot.

“When we talked, I kept telling her that if we were going to be good, she was going to have to hit big shots for us. And she has.''

Contact the writer:

679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com

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