Great three point shooting by the Creighton University Blue Jays led to the first loss of the season for the women’s basketball team.
N.C . State fell to the Creighton, 74-67, Sunday evening at D.J . Sokol Arena. Junior guard Marissa Kastanek got a homecoming welcome as she visited her home state of Nebraska to face off against the Blue Jays. The Wolfpack had just come off a win against Jacksonville Wednesday night with a final score of 80-42 while the Blue Jays recently came off an overtime loss to South Dakota.
After tip-off, the Blue Jays jumped off to a quick start as they took a quick lead over the Pack. By the first official’s timeout, Creighton held a lead over the Wolfpack with a score of 8-6. Kastanek came to play as she scored all opening six points to keep her team in the game.
The Blue Jays would continue with a hot streak, knocking down shots from beyond the arch with ease. Creighton would open the game shooting 4-for-5 from the three-point line to make an early jump ahead of NCSU with a 17-13 lead with 16 minutes remaining in the half.
Creighton would continue the strike until halftime to keep them ahead with a score of 33-30 heading into the locker room. Kastanek lead the Pack into the half with a total of eight points and would eventually lead the Pack in scoring with 14 points.
In order to stop the three-point onslaught of the Blue Jays, NCSU would have to adjust defensively. According to sophomore forward Kody Burke, who put up 13 points for State, adjusting definitely made a difference in the second half play.
“We started off the game slow. It was hard to play catch up,” Burke said. “We were not communicating. Instead of playing man, we had to switch to a zone, which definitely tested our communication. They are a quick team. They took advantage of the gaps on the court.”
To start the second half, Creighton, with superb three-point shooting, would come out with a 10-4 run to put the Blue Jays ahead, 43-34. Kastanek kept her team alive with a bucket of her own to put her total up to 10.
With the under 12 minute remaining timeout, State trailed 51-40 after the Pack was once again unable to stop the three-point shooting from the Blue Jays. Creighton had made 10 three-point baskets by the time ten minutes had leaked off the second-half clock.
State would attempt a comeback as great rebounding and put-backs by senior forward Bonae Holston eventually closed the gap within eight points with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Holston continued to show poise with another basket to strengthen her team, pulling State within five points. This was the closest deficit the Pack would see for the remainder of the game.
Creighton returned to their three-point streak to bring the lead to seven with fewer than four minutes to play. Eventually, the buzzer would sound and State would suffer their first loss of the regular season with a score of 74-67, putting the Pack’s record to 4-1 on the season.
Kastanek gave a lot of credit to Creighton and looks to improve communication with her team as well.
“We knew, coming into the game, Creighton was a great shooting team. In the second half, we just had to come out and hustle harder,” Kastanek said. “We knew we had to get the ball to people who could shoot. We just need to talk about what offense we are in, what defense we are in, but the biggest part of communication we need to work on is the listening aspect. All in all, we still have much to work on in general.”
The Pack will face Northwestern Wednesday in Illinois.
