WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State defeated Creighton, 65-56, Saturday afternoon on the back of Alex Harden's, Michaela Dapprich's and Kelsey Jacobs' offensive and defensive efforts in front of 2,156 inside Charles Koch Arena.
Harden led all scorers with 28 points on 50 percent (9-18) shooting, while Dapprich backed her with 15 points and Jacobs had 10. Harden also shot 90 percent from the line in a 9-of-10 effort and had five steals and four defensive rebounds for six total. Dapprich added two steals and five total rebounds, while Jacobs had a team-leading eight rebounds, five on the defensive end.
2014 Big East Player of the Year Marissa Janning had 18 to lead the three double-figure scorers for Creighton. Brianna Rollerson had 11 and MC McGrory had 10.
The Shockers' defense held the Bluejays without a bucket for nine minutes down the stretch andled to 17 Creighton turnovers and 12 WSU steals.
Down five at the half, 30-25, Creighton closed the gap to three in the opening seconds of the second frame with a McGrory bucket. McGory scored again on a layup to close the WSU lead to one, 30-29. WSU got on the board in the second half on a Brittney Martin jumper to put WSU up 32-29 at the 18:43 mark.
CU went ahead for the second time in the game, 33-32, on a Jensen trey at 16:54 before two free throws by Dapprich put the Shockers back up one, 34-33, 30 seconds later.
The two teams battled back and forth over the next four minutes with WSU taking two three-point leads before Janning tied it, 40-40, with a trey from near the left baseline at 11:57.
CU got its third lead on a layup by McGrory 42-40 at the 11:11 mark, but WSU answered with a Jacobs jumper. WSU got the ball back on a CU turnover on the inbounds play and converted to go up, 44-42 at 10:26.
Janning hit her fourth trey to put CU ahead, but WSU's Harden answered with a jumper at the top
of the key with the shot clock running down to take the one-point lead, 46-45.
A Jacobs baby hook in the paint gave WSU a three-point lead, 48-45, before CU turned it over on the other end and Harden converted a layup and but the foul shot was taken off the board for a WSU lane violation to put WSU up, 50-45.
Harden hit a three in front of the WSU bench with 6:31 left to give WSU its largest lead at the time at eight, 53-45.
Dapprich's jumper in the lane and ensuing foul shot again gave WSU its largest lead at 11 to put WSU ahead 11, 56-45.
The Shockers took that lead into the final media timeout before Harden converted on one of two free throws to put WSU up 57-45. The Shockers scored again on a Harden jumper for a 14-point lead with 2:53 left.
WSU held Creighton without a field goal for nine minutes from the 10:02 mark to the one-minute mark.
Each team traded free throws before Creighton cut it to a nine-point lead, 63-54, on a Taylor Johnson trey with 42 seconds remaining.
The Shockers out-shot the Bluejays, 45.5 percent (25-55) to 39.2 percent (20-51) for the game, while the Jays' made six treys to the Shockers' one.
To open the game, Creighton got on the board first and the two teams traded baskets for a 6-6 tie at the first media timeout.
WSU went ahead 8-6 on a Dapprich jumper out of the first media timeout before the Shockers went up 12-9 on a Harden layup at 12:30 mark and held that into the second media timeout.
Two free throws and a jumper by Harden at the 9:26 mark put WSU up 16-9, but CU closed the gap to 16-11 on a jumper by Rollerson at the 8:11 mark. A steal and laypup by Harden on the inbounds play gave WSU a 18-11 lead at the 7:27 mark.
CU's Janning cut the lead to 18-14 with a trey out front at the 5:37 mark, before both teams traded baskets to keep the lead at four, 20-16, with 4:56 left in the first half.
Creighton closed the gap to three, 24-21, at the 2:53 mark on Jannings' second trey.
A Kelsey Jacobs layup off her own miss put WSU back up five, 26-21 at the 2:53 mark of the first half. CU answered with a Janning layup to close the gap to three again. Two free throws by McGrory closed it to two before a Jacobs driving layup put WSU back up three. Stovall tied up the inbounds pass, and the alternating possession gave the Shockers the ball. Harden scored on the inbound pass and WSU took a 30-25 lead into the locker room.
WSU out-shot the Bluejays in the first frame, 41.9 percent (13-31) to 39.1 percent (9-23). Ten CU turnovers and seven Shocker steals revealed WSU's defensive pressure in the first half.
Wichita State is next in action Tuesday at Eastern Washington. The game can be heard live at 8 p.m., Cnetral time, on goshockers.com.
For all your Shocker merchandise visit the official Wichita State Team Store here.
