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January 21, 2012

ISU women nipped at buzzer

Craig Pearson The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Creighton sophomore Carli Tritz — blanketed by Indiana State senior Brittany Schoen — had just two points at halftime Friday in Hulman Center.

Deja Mattox accounted for the last seven of the first half for ISU on her way to a career-high 28 points. The two Sycamore seniors seemed determined to will the Sycamores to a crucial victory as ISU took a 36-27 lead into halftime.

ISU remained in control most of the second half, but Creighton “stole a win,” CU coach Jim Flanery said afterward of his team’s 64-62 victory — the Bluejays’ fourth win in five tries in Hulman Center.

“There’s no question that I thought Indiana State — from three minutes into the game when we were up 9-2 — until maybe five something to go in the game, they controlled the game. Things didn’t look good, but we hung in there,” Creighton coach Jim Flanery said.

Tritz hit a 17-footer with two seconds left and the Bluejays spoiled ISU’s potential 5-1 start to Missouri Valley Conference play. The 5-foot-11 guard cut ISU’s 60-50 lead in half with a 15-footer and a 3-pointer, sparking a 12-0 run that knotted the score at 60-60 with three minutes, 45 seconds left.

Indiana State spoiled Mattox’s career-best performance.

“Deja had a huge game. She just abused us,” Flanery said. “We’re fortunate to win, there’s no question. As a coach, you feel bad for Indiana State, for 34 or 35 minutes, they were the better team. But Carli was just fantastic at the end.”

Shannon Thomas — shooting over 80 percent at the foul line during MVC play — missed two free throws with 3:20 on the clock, and Tritz set up Sarah Nelson for a go-ahead bucket with 3:01 remaining.

After Thomas was called for an offenisve foul, Ally Jensen’s 3-point attempt went in and out, and Anna Munn’s 3-pointer did the same for the Sycamores.

After an ISU timeout, the Sycamores got a decent look at the basket for Schoen but she couldn’t connect. Tritz led a fast break after picking up the rebound, missing a 15-foot pull-up. The Bluejays came up with the loose-ball rebound, and the Bluejays set up a play for Nelson to set a high screen for Tritz, who created a slight opening against Schoen for the game-winner.

“We knew they’d go to the ball screen, and we knew Tritz was going to take the last shot,” ISU coach Teri Moren said. “Earlier, we tried to trap the ball screen. It worked in our favor because Tritz gave up the ball and they missed two shots.

“There was no doubt who the ball was going to. We decided we weren’t going to trap, that we’d have Britt try to stay with her and Shannon hedge over the top. Give [Tritz] credit, she hit a tough shot. I thought Britt did a good job contesting.”

ISU made 14 of its 21 turnovers in the second half as Creighton’s fullcourt press caused problems late in the game.

“The press got our heads back up,” Flanery said.

ISU got rushed at times against the press and the Sycamores were passive at other times, resulting in short shot clocks.

“I think that was our Achilles tendon, we just pretty much lost it in the press break,” Mattox said. “We need to work on that because a lot of our turnovers were because of our press break. We’ve worked on it in practice, but they executed their gameplan when it came to pressing us.”

Moren lamented ISU’s lack of offensive execution and rhythm at times throughout the 40 minutes.

“It’d be nice if I could put Taylor [Whitley] in three spots, but I can’t, Britt same thing. They get the ball and go. We need our guards and Anna Munn to attack up the floor. We need Anna to catch and get the ball up the floor as well,” Moren said. “We were starting our offense with 15-18 seconds on the clock.”

Thomas struggled offensively, posting just one field goal for the second straight game. She had two assists, showing good vision to hit Mattox on a back-door cut out of a double-team for a clutch 3-point play.

But Moren said she needs to find a way to coax more assertive play from her post player.

“Right now, we’re just going to have to keep Shannon encouraged and hope that she can turn it around on Sunday,” Moren said. ‘She’s going to go up against a tremendous post player in [Rachel] Hackbarth.”

Thomas made Sarah Nelson a non-factor offensively, but Nelson did the same to Thomas, pushing her far off the low block much of the game.

“Nelson, she’s mobile, she’s versatile, she’s strong. She stood Shannon up quite a bit,” Moren said. “Shannon was off-balance for most of the night. Give her credit for taking Shannon out of what she likes to do and that’s turn and score on the low block.

“We have to come up with an answer for that. Shannon is our go-to kid in the middle, and we’ve got to keep giving her opportunities on the inside. Right now we have to continue to give her confidence that she can score on the low block.”

Whitley made her first start for the Sycamores since returning from a knee injury. She’s averaged 18 minutes off the bench since returning for MVC play.

Whitley, who totaled four steals in 31 minutes, helped spark ISU to a 16-5 spurt to end the first half, knocking down a 3-pointer off a kickout pass from Thomas to put ISU ahead 24-22 and start the rally. Schoen added a 3-pointer and two free throws before Mattox scored the next seven points.

Whitley made plays, but she and freshman Natasha Zurek each had two big turnovers in the final eight minutes.

“I thought Whitley looked — not that she looked poor on film — had a little more bounce than I’d seen on film,” Flanery said. “She makes them better, and we didn’t handle her well.”

While ISU played well in the first half, Schoen said the Sycamores gave Tritz’ supporting cast too many open looks.

“We let their 3-ball get out of hand, and in the second half with Tritz and that ball screen, she’s a smart player and made good reads out of that,” Schoen said.

ISU plays Sunday at Hulman Center against Drake.



CREIGHTON (64) — Moore 1-2 1-2 3, Nelson 4-8 0-0 8, Fujan 4-8 1-1 10, A.Jensen 4-12 0-0 11, Tritz 8-15 0-0 19, S.Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 2-6 0-0 5, Corbin 0-2 0-0 0, Garrison 2-3 0-0 6, Akin-Otiko 1-4 0-0 2, Kamphaus 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 FG, 2-3 FT, 64 TP.

INDIANA STATE (62) — Mattox 7-14 10-11 25, Thomas 1-7 4-6 6, Schoen 3-9 2-2 11, Whitley 3-6 3-6 10, Munn 1-5 0-0 3, Zurek 2-2 0-0 4, Valley 1-2 0-0 2, Rademacher 0-0 0-0 0, Mahan 0-0 1-2 1, Franklin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 FG, 20-27 FT, 62 TP.

Halftime score — ISU 36, CU 27. 3-point shooting — CU 10-25 (A.Jensen 3-9, Tritz 3-3, Fujan 1-3, Nelson 1-2, Johnson 1-3, Corbin 0-2, Garrison 2-3), ISU 6-15 (Mattox 1-2, Schoen 3-7, Whitley 1-2, Munn 1-4). Rebounds — CU 36 (Tritz 6, Nelson 5), ISU 31 (Munn 7, Thomas 6, Mattox 4, Schoen 2, Rademacher 2, Mahan 2). Steals — CU 12 (A.Jensen 3), ISu 11 (Whitley 4, Mattox 2, Munn 2, Zurek 2, Thomas 1). Assists — CU 18 (Tritz 5), ISU 10 (Schoen 3, Thomas 2, Mattox 2, Whitley 2, Munn 1). Turnovers — CU 21 (Nelson 6, Tritz 6). ISU 21 (Thomas 4, Whitley 4, Zurek 4). Blocks — CU 5 (Nelson 2, Tritz 2, Moore 1), ISU 3 (Thomas, Schoen, Munn).

Next — ISU (10-8, 4-2 MVC) plays host to Drake on Sunday. Creighton (9-8, 3-3 MVC) visits Illinois State on Sunday.

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