Bluejays produce early and late in 70-53 win over Friars
Creighton Quotes
Providence Quotes
By Jack McCarthy
Special to
BigEast.com
CHICAGO — Three players scored in double figures as Creighton collected big points early and late en route to a 70-53 Big East women’s tournament victory over Providence on Saturday at DePaul’s McGrath-Phillips Arena.
The No. 7 seed Bluejays (15-16) avenged a regular season loss to the 10th seed Friars and advanced to a Sunday quarterfinals date with No. 2 Villanova.
Forward Audrey Faber led the balanced attack with 16 points and eight rebounds while guards MC McGrory and Jade Owens added 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Clara Che scored a team-high 14 points off the bench as Providence (5-24) saw its season end and a Big East tourney losing streak hit 11.
Creighton scored 15 unanswered points to open the game before Che broke the shutout with a 3-pointer. Providence continued to shake off the sluggish start and outplayed the Bluejays over a nearly 13 minute span to trim the halftime deficit to 33-28.
The Friars resumed the push in the third quarter, making it a 2-point game when Aliyah Miller’s successful bank shot cut the lead to 42-40 with 3:26 remaining.
But the Bluejays replied with an 10-3 run to a built a 52-43 lead by quarter’s end and opened the fourth with six unanswered points and a 58-43 advantage. Creighton never saw its edge slip below double digits after that.
Providence now hasn’t won a Big East Tournament game since March 3, 2001 and a 72-61 victory over Seton Hall.
The Friars finished 1-17 in regular season league play. Their lone win came against the Bluejays on Feb. 14 — a 61-59 win decision.
Creighton beat Villanova in both regular season conference meetings, the most recent was a 53-48 decision on Jan. 29.