Creighton WBB Faces No. 4 St. John's With a Trip to the NCAA Tournament on the Line

Chicago, Ill. -- Facing their fiercest rival in the BIG EAST, the Creighton women's basketball team needs just one more win to reach the NCAA Tournament. The seventh-seeded Bluejays take on No. 4 St. John's tonight at 7:00 pm. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.

No. 7 Creighton (17-16) vs. No. 4 St. John's (22-9)

TV: FS1
Lisa Byington (Play-by-Play) & LaChina Robinson (Color Analyst)
Online: http://foxsportsgo.com

Stats: http://creighton.statbroadcast.com

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Creighton WBB Supplemental Notes #3 – vs. St. John's

Creighton and the Red Storm split the season series, with each team taking the road contest.
The Bluejays victory over St. John's started Creighton's current four-game winning streak.
Creighton is 4-2 in the BIG EAST Tournament. The Bluejays defeated Butler in 2013-14, Providence on Friday, Villanova on Saturday and Seton Hall on Monday. However, both losses have come to St. John's.
Since joining the BIG EAST Conference prior to the 2013-14 season, Creighton and St. John's have split the six meetings between the two schools. The odd thing is over the last two seasons, each team has taken the road game.
In many ways the meeting between Creighton and St. John's on Tuesday fits perfectly into the storyline for the two teams. Either St. John's will continue to frustrate the Bluejays, or Creighton will earn its biggest win as a member of the BIG EAST against its fiercest rival.
The Red Storm have played the role of the Bluejays' nemesis dating back to a meeting in the NCAA Tournament in 2012. Like Tuesday the Bluejays entered the game as the underdog, seeded 14^th in the NCAA Tournament. The 3^rd seeded Red Storm, however, got much more of a game than anticipated as the Bluejays knotted the game at 67-67 with under 10 seconds remaining. With the final possession, St. John's Nadirah McKenith raced coast-to-coast for the game-winning layup.
During Creighton's first season in the BIG EAST the Bluejays advanced to the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals and had the Red Storm on the ropes. Up 57-56 with 22 seconds left, Creighton missed one of two from the line to allow St. John's to force overtime.
Last season the Bluejays woes against St. John's continued. Creighton opened the BIG EAST Tournament Quarterfinal on a 12-3 run and led 21-11 with nine minutes left in the first half. St. John's, however, slowly worked back into the game, taking the meeting, 57-54.
This season Creighton faced St. John's in the opening game of BIG EAST play, falling 66-55. The two teams also locked up in the regular-season finale, a 64-57 Creighton win.
In the two contests against the Red Storm this season, Sydney Lamberty leads Creighton with 33 points (16.5 ppg). Jade Owens is second on the squad with 23 points (11.5 ppg)
For the Red Storm the trio of Aliyyah Handford (37), Aaliyah Lewis (31) and Danaejah Grant (23) combined for 91 of St. John's 123 points against the Bluejays.
Creighton has been the No. 7 seed in a conference tournament twice. The last time the Bluejays entered the tournament as the seven seed, Creighton won its first two games to advance to the MVC Finals in 1999.
The 13 rebounds by Sydney Lamberty against Villanova set a Creighton single-game record in a conference tournament game.
Head coach Jim Flanery has led his team to the Conference Tournament final four times, including this season. He enters Tuesday's contest 1-2.
- The Bluejays fell to Evansville, 47-45 in 2009
- Creighton fell to Northern Iowa, 53-54 in 2010
- Creighton defeated Drake, 53-38 in 2012
Creighton also reached the Conference Tournament Finals in 2002, Flanery's final season as an assistant coach. That year the Bluejays bested Drake, 77-74
Overall the Bluejays are 2-4 in Conference Tournament Finals
- 1994 – L, 71-88 to Missouri State
- 1999 – L, 72-75 (ot) to Evansville
- 2002 – W, 77-74 over Drake
- 2009 – L, 45-47 to Evansville
- 2010 – L, 53-43 to Northern Iowa
- 2012 – W, 53-38 over Drake
Sydney Lamberty's double-double (10 points and 13 rebounds) was the first time a player posted a double-double in a conference tournament game since the Bluejays current graduate manager Carli Tritz had 11 points and 10 rebounds against Northern Iowa during the 2012 Missouri Valley Tournament opener on March 9, 2012.

Creighton WBB Faces No. 4 St. John's With a Trip to the NCAA Tournament on the Line

Players Mentioned

Sydney Lamberty

Jade Owens

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