Behind 27 points by Kristi Woodard, Creighton bounced back to defeat Illinois State 77-72 in a Missouri Valley Conference basketball game Saturday in the Civic Auditorium. The Redbirds led 65-58 on Jaci McCormack's basket with 8:55 left in the game, but CU finished with a 19-7 run.
Illinois State led by as many as 12 points behind 18 points each by Katie Donovan and Erin Keeney, who hit her first four three-point shots, plus 13 by Zora Skrabalova and 11 by Taren O'Brien, who also had 6 assists. Woodard's career high was back by 12 from Laura Spanheimer and 10 by Dayna Finch.
The Redbirds made 26 of their first 48 shots (54 percent) before a cold-shooting 2-11 finish and just 4-10 free throws in the second half allowed Creighton to recover and win.
The Jays, 8-5, 4-0 atop the Valley, extended their Valley home-court winning streak to 24 games and their record at home vs. Illinois State to 13-0. ISU, 8-4, 2-1 in the Valley, saw its seven-game win streak end. Excellent ballhandling limited ISU turnovers to just eight for the game. The lowest in several years by a Redbird team came against a CU team which forced 25 turnovers by Indiana State just two days earlier.
Redbird coach Robin Pingeton appreciated her team's effort in getting and keeping a lead, but wasn't happy with some of the problems which allowed Creighton to come back.
"We fought hard and did a lot of good things," said Pingeton. "But we had too many mental breakdowns. You can't do that and be a championship team. Give Creighton credit; they made big plays at the end. And we are making fewer mistakes, but still way too many."
Creighton led 7-3 when Michelle Harakas hit a left-handed layup with 15:49 left in the first half to start a 13-2 Redbird run which featured five points by Donovan and finished with a Keeney jumper to put ISU up 16-9 with 11:27 left.
That lead grew to 28-16 four minutes later as Skrabalova hit 4 of 5 first-half field goals and Keeney drained three first-half treys. But ISU had to fend-off a Bluejay run to keep a 43-39 halftime lead.
ISU held the lead for nearly 15 minutes of the first half before Spanheimer's trey with 5:02 left gave Creighton a 67-66 lead, and the Jays never gave it back.
The Redbirds continue their road trip with a 7:05 p.m. Monday game at Drake before returning to Normal to face Evansville at 7:05 Friday in Redbird Arena.
