Coatney's Call: Creighton/Bakersfield Preview

#12 Nebraska at Creighton
Thursday, Dec. 11, 8 p.m. (central)
D.J. Sokol Arena (Omaha, Neb.)
TV: Fox Sports 1 (Eric Collins, LaChina Robinson)
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-PBP; Jeff Griesch-Analyst)
107.3 FM, Lincoln; 93.3 FM, Omaha; 99.5 FM, Fairbury; 1340 AM, Sidney; 1400 AM Ainsworth; 94.1 FM, Scottsbluff; 1230 AM, Hastings
Internet: Free live audio on Huskers.com

#12 Nebraska vs. Bakersfield
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2 p.m. (central)
Pinnacle Bank Arena (Lincoln, Neb.)
Live Video: BTN Plus
Radio: Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-PBP; Jeff Griesch-Analyst)
107.3 FM, Lincoln; 93.3 FM, Omaha; 93.9 FM, 1340 AM/97.3 FM, Fremont; 94.1 FM, Scottsbluff
Internet: Free live audio on Huskers.com

No. 12 Huskers Face Jays in Omaha; Return Home to Face Roadrunners

To say the Nebraska women’s basketball team seemed out of sync Sunday in a 53-51 loss at Alabama would be an understatement. The Huskers missed at least five layups in the first half and never got untracked. Still, NU was in the game right to the end, but the Crimson Tide scored in the final seconds to secure the victory.

Senior guard Tear’a Laudermill hit six of her career high-tying and school record-tying seven three-pointers in the second half, but her 25 points weren’t enough as Nebraska suffered its first loss of the season.

The Huskers return to the state of Nebraska for two games this week. NU faces Creighton in its annual meeting this Thursday night at 8 p.m. (central) in Omaha in a game that will be nationally-televised on Fox Sports 1. Nebraska then returns home Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. matchup with the Bakersfield Roadrunners.

Creighton is 4-4 on the season and has already played their first Big East Conference game, losing 79-74 to Seton Hall in Omaha on Dec. 3. The Bluejays opened the season with a loss at Wichita State, then ended the nation’s fourth-longest home winning streak in a win over South Dakota State in Brookings. CU upended Utah 64-56 in its home opener before falling 96-60 at then-No. 1 UConn.

The Bluejays split two games at a tournament at the Cal Classic, defeating Cincinnati 63-52 and losing to No. 14 Cal, 94-69.

This past Monday night, Creighton trailed by 17 on the road before pulling out a 58-56 win at Northern Iowa.

The Bluejays are headlined by 5-8 junior guard Marissa Janning, who as a sophomore won the Big East Player of the Year award. CU Coach Jim Flanery has described her as ”the most talented player I’ve ever coached.”

Janning scored 1,016 points in her first two seasons in the program, and if she matches that pace over her final two seasons, she would end her career second on Creighton’s all-time scoring chart. Janning earned honorable-mention All-America accolades last year and came into 2014-15 as the Big East’s Preseason Player of the Year. She led the team in scoring in CU’s first six games, but was held to single digits for the first time this season with nine points on 3-of-14 shooting at Northern Iowa. Janning leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg) and three-pointers (21) and is shooting a blistering 21-of-45 (.467) from beyond the arc.

Sydney Lamberty, a 5-10 freshman guard, has started the last three games and was named Big East Freshman of the Week on Monday, Dec. 8. Lamberty became the first Bluejay in program history to be tabbed Big East Freshman of the Week. She totaled six points, seven rebounds and six assists against Seton Hall. In the comeback win at Northern Iowa Monday, Lamberty led Creighton with 14 points and 11 rebounds, including 11 points and nine rebounds in the second half, to record her first double-double as a Bluejay. She leads the team in assists and averages 7.1 points per game. Lamberty also is tied for fifth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.33).

Senior forward Alexis Akin-Otiko has started every game for CU this season and averages a team-leading 5.0 rebounds per game. She has added 10.8 points per game, while contributing 10 blocks on the season. Akin-Otiko is arguably one of the most improved players in the nation this season, especially from beyond the arc. After entering the season with two three-pointers in her career, Akin-Otiko delivered three treys in Creighton’s win over Cincinnati and then exploded for a career-best 22 points, including three more triples, against Seton Hall.

Sophomore guard MC McCrory has started every game this season and ranks third on the team in scoring (8.3 ppg). McCrory missed the first nine games last season due to an injury.

Bailey Norby, a 6-2 freshman forward, rounds out Creighton’s probable starting lineup. She’s started the last four games and averages 2.4 points per game.

The Bluejays lost a pair of second-team All-Big East players — Sarah Nelson and McKenzie Fujan — and two other seniors from last season’s 20-win team that advanced to the postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

Along with Janning, Creighton returns another starter from 2013-14 in point guard Sammy Jensen. Jensen started the first five games but has missed the last three after suffering a leg injury against Cincinnati.

Creighton is 15-1 in games at the DJ Sokol Arena in Omaha when Jensen hits a field goal. The Bluejays rank 14th nationally with 8.5 three-point field goals per game and rank 12th in NCAA Division I in fewest turnovers, only turning it over an average of 12.4 times per game. However, CU is ranked only 339th out of 343 Division I teams in field goal percentage defense (.471).

Jim Flanery is the all-time winningest coach in Creighton history. A long-time assistant to former CU head coach Connie Yori, Flanery is in his 13th season as head coach and 23rd straight season on the Bluejay bench. He has led Creighton to 10 postseason appearances and two conference regular- season titles.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Creighton 28-11, including a seven-game winning streak from 2005-06 through 2011-12. CU snapped NU’s winning streak two seasons ago with a 66-57 win in Omaha. Janning led Creighton with 19 points and the Bluejay defense held Jordan Hooper scoreless in a game for the only time in her career. The Huskers avenged the loss last year in Lincoln and held Creighton to just 11 second-half points to pull away for a 63-38 women’s basketball victory over the Bluejays.

NU held CU to its lowest point total in the series since the 1975-76 Huskers surrendered just 31 on Dec. 5, 1975. Emily Cady finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks while Brandi Jeffery came off the bench to add 11 points. Hailie Sample added 13 points for Nebraska. In fact, in the last two meetings with Creighton, Sample has averaged 16.5 points while CU held 2014 Big Ten Player of the Year and the No. 13 pick in the WNBA draft Jordan Hooper to an average of just 2.5 points.

OK, be honest with me:when you read that Nebraska is facing Bakersfield, do you think this is a cupcake on the schedule? If you do, trust me, it’s time for you to re-assess. This is going to be one of the toughest teams the Huskers will face during the non-conference season.

Let’s look at some facts: Bakersfield is heavily favored to win the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) title in both media and coaches’ preseason polls. The Roadrunners went 19-12 last season and qualified for the WNIT. They were 12-4 in their inaugural WAC season, second to Idaho, which has left the league. CSUB is 6-1 this year, including a 20-point win over a Fresno State team that Nebraska defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. CSUB won on the road at a Pac-12 Conference school, defeating Arizona 76-72 and also owns a 40-point, season-opening win over Air Force. Bakersfield’s lone loss was to another Pac-12 foe, 83-54 at Arizona State in a game in which CSUB played without their leading rebounder.

The Roadrunners currently rank 11th nationally in turnover margin (+8.3), 17th in steals per game (12.6), 13th in free throw percentage (.769) and 40th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.11). They like to play up-tempo, disrupt and turn their opposition over and if you foul them, they are very effective at the line. CSUB is ranked 14th in this week’s College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 rankings.

Bakersfield faces the Omaha Mavericks in Douglas County Thursday night before heading to Lincoln for Saturday afternoon’s meeting with the Huskers.

Senior guard Tyonna Outland is the preseason WAC Player of the Year and was selected first-team all-conference in 2013-14. She averaged 20.7 points and 6.3 rebounds last season and was voted All-Region 7 by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Outland is also closing in on CSUB’s career scoring record, becoming the ninth player in school history to reach 1,000 points last season. She scored 643 points, a Division I single-season record for Bakersfield. Outland leads this season’s team and the WAC Conference in scoring (18.3 ppg), but had one of the worst games of her career last Saturday. With six seconds remaining in the game, Outland was 0-for-18 on field goal attempts against UC Riverside. However, the senior guard hit the biggest basket of the game with a left-handed, six-foot flip shot that banked in and drew a foul. She added the go-ahead free throw with 5.2 two seconds to play to lift Bakersfield to a 66-65 win over UC Riverside.

Outland was not the only Roadrunner to struggle in the game. In fact, the Roadrunners’ entire starting lineup combined for just one first-half point and trailed 27-19 at halftime. CSUB picked up the pace in the second half with a full court press that triggered a 16-4 run and took the lead for the first time 61-59 with 2:27 remaining. Bakersfield didn’t get its first bucket by a starter until 16:41 left in the game. The Roadrunners went 6-of-9 from the three-point line in the second half, 11-for-11 from the foul line and outrebounded the Highlanders 24-14.

Junior forward Batabe Zempare (Bat-Ah-Bey Zem-Par-ay) has been playing limited minutes due to a sore right knee that caused her to miss the Fresno Pacific and Arizona State games. She averages the fewest minutes (19.2) among all regular CSUB starters. She had 16 points and 16 rebounds in only 24 minutes against UC Riverside. Zempare was selected to the preseason first-team All-WAC squad by both coaches and media and leads the team in rebounds (9.6) and adds 10.2 points for the season.

Senior guard Dajy (Day-Gee) Vines was a second-team preseason All-WAC pick by the coaches. She is second on the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and is hitting a blistering 13-of-26 (.500) from the three-point line. Vines scored a career-high 27 points in the win over Fresno State, making 10 of her 18 field goal attempts (5-of-10 from three-point range) and was named the WAC Player of the Week (Nov. 24-30). However, Vines has not played in the last two games, missing the wins over UC Irvine and UC Riverside due to an apparent knee injury suffered in the Fresno State game. If Vines is unavailable for the Nebraska game, expect 6-0 redshirt sophomore Erika Williams to start in her place. Williams missed her first season with CSUB due to a knee injury, but appeared in 26 games last season. Williams is averaging 4.9 points per game this season and has started the last two games in place of Vines.

Senior guard Brooklynn Hinkens has started all seven games this season and is third on the team in scoring (13.3 ppg). She is the team leader in three-pointers, making 19-of-42 (.452) and is eighth on the CSUB career three-pointer list. Hinkens had a career-high 21 points in the season-opening win over Air Force.

Alyssa Shannon, a 5-2 junior point guard, rounds out Bakersfield’s probable starting lineup. She leads the WAC in assists (5.6 apg) and has an impressive assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.33 (39 assists-9 turnovers), which is tied with Creighton’s Sydney Lamberty for fifth in the nation. Shannon averages 7.3 points per game.

Fourth-year CSUB Head Coach Greg McCall led the Roadrunners to a second-place finish in the WAC last year and an appearance in the WNIT. His oldest daughter Dewanna Bonner was the 2009 SEC Player of the Year and owns the Auburn career scoring mark. She was the fifth overall selection in the 2009 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury. Bonner won her second WNBA title with Phoenix this past season. McCall's daughter Erica McCall is a sophomore forward for Stanford.

Nebraska has won both of the two previous meetings with CSUB. In the first meeting in Bakersfield in 2007, Kaitlyn Burke scored 15 points, hitting five three-pointers and Danielle Page blocked seven shots and pulled down 13 rebounds as the Huskers rallied from two seven-point deficits to win 66-62. One year later at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Tay Hester had 17 points to lead NU to a 70-57 win.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska women’s basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Thursday night at Creighton begins with the pre-game show at 7:45 p.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 8:01 p.m. on the Husker Sports Network including KBBK (B107.3) in Lincoln., KFFF 93.3 in Omaha, KUTT 99.5 in Fairbury, KSID 1340 in Sidney, KBRB 1400 in Ainsworth, KNEB 94.1 in Scottsbluff, and KHAS 1230 in Hastings.

Saturday’s broadcast against Bakersfield begins with the pre-game show at 1:45 p.m. with the tip-off scheduled for 2:06 p.m. on KBBK (B107.3) in Lincoln., KFFF 93.3 in Omaha, KHUB 1340 and KBLR 97.3 in Fremont, KNEB 94.1 in Scottsbluff and many others.

Fans inside Pinnacle Bank Arena can listen to the live Husker Sports Network broadcast real-time and delay-free on 87.7 MHZ via an in-arena transmitter. All Husker women’s basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com. I hope you can join us.

There are a number of ways to get enhanced information about our broadcast and Husker Women’s Basketball via social media. You can learn more about the team on the Nebraska Women’s Basketball Facebook page or follow the team on their official Twitter page @huskerswbb. I also invite you to friend me on Facebook (Matt Coatney) or follow me on Twitter @coatman1.

Go Big Red!

Matt