Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The Creighton women's basketball team had every reason to be discouraged when it returned from an early January road trip.
Back-to-back losses to Missouri State and Wichita State put the Bluejays in a 0-3 hole to start Missouri Valley Conference play. A team that was having difficulty scoring was saddled with a four-game skid.
A month later, Creighton finds itself creeping back into the Valley race. The Bluejays have won six of seven games, with the most recent being Thursday's 61-59 victory against first-place Wichita State. A victory Saturday against Missouri State would leave Creighton sniffing a possible tie for second place.
That would be heady stuff for a team that four weeks ago appeared headed for a play-in round game at the conference tournament. But it wouldn't shock a group that refused to quit believing in itself when faced with a little adversity.
"We knew we had played the best teams in the conference, and we had played with them until the last couple of possessions," Creighton guard Carli Tritz said. "We were making young mistakes that we knew we could fix.
"We fixed the things we needed to fix and we kept growing. Right now, we're playing well and we're proving ourselves night after night. We're buying into it, and it's cool when a team can do that."
Creighton's hot streak has the Bluejays sitting alone in fifth place at 6-4, a game out of second place. Missouri State and Northern Iowa are tied for second with 7-3 records, with Illinois State fourth at 6-3.
In Missouri State, Creighton will be facing another hot team capable of putting up points. The Lady Bears, winners of four straight, lead the Valley in scoring (73.7 points per game). That puts them 22nd nationally in scoring, and they also rank 27th in assists (16.0) and field-goal percentage (.434).
Creighton has relied on its defense to get it back in the race as the Bluejays are second in the Valley in scoring defense (58.9 points per game). They've managed to earn that standing despite ranking last in field-goal percentage defense (.408) and sixth in 3-point percentage defense (.317).
The Bluejays have been vulnerable against teams that excel in driving the ball to the basket. That's one reason why coach Jim Flanery resorted to playing a zone defense down the stretch in the win against Wichita State.
Although not a fan of playing zone, Flanery didn't rule out the possibility that the Bluejays might slip into the defense again.
"It's going to depend on opponents," he said. "The better the 3-point shooting team, the harder it is for me to commit to a zone. We'll probably use it some to keep teams off-balance."
Tritz's play has been a big key to the Bluejays' resurgence as the sophomore guard is averaging 15.6 points in Valley games. Recently, Creighton has gotten a big lift from freshman Taylor Johnson.
Against the Shockers, Johnson scored 12 points, including the Bluejays' final four points. The 5-foot-11 forward has scored in double figures in three of her past four games.
"She's playing well," Flanery said. "She's doing a good job of finishing shots around the basket."
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402-679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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