March 24, 2008

Updated WNIT Bracket in PDF Format

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MILWAUKEE - The Marquette women's basketball team survived a near-dramatic comeback by Creighton at the Al McGuire Center on Monday night in the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The Golden Eagles (17-14), who led by as many as 16 points, escaped with a 75-69 overtime victory over the visiting Bluejays (21-12).

As a result, Marquette advances to the third round of the WNIT where it will play host to Illinois on Wednesday, March 26. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m., at the Al McGuire Center.

Playing in their first tilt since a March 8 loss to DePaul in the BIG EAST Tournament, the Golden Eagles showed little to no sign of rust at the onset.

Marquette used a 13-0 early run, in addition to a 9-0 run to close the first half, to grab a 38-23 lead at halftime. Creighton began the game shooting just 1-of-9 from the field. Meanwhile, MU red-shirt freshman Jocelyn Mellen was 6-of-8 from the floor and scored 15 of her career-high 17 points in the first half.

The Golden Eagles' defense also factored into the early lopsided advantage - MU forced 15 turnovers and held their opponent to 30.0 percent (6-of-20) shooting in the first stanza. But the Bluejays continued to claw their way back, closing the gap in what seemed to be a blink of an eye.

Creighton, which overcame a 12-point deficit on the road to knock off South Dakota State 76-69 in the opening round of the tournament, did not let up. The Bluejays rattled off a flurry of 3-pointers to cut the deficit down to eight points, 52-44, by the nine-minute mark.

With 33 seconds remaining, another three-pointer by Sara Cain gave Creighton its first lead, 62-61, since a pair of free throws to start the game. A free throw by Kelsey Crites with nine seconds remaining extended the lead, but sophomore Janelle Harris forced the game into overtime with a put back off a Krystal Ellis jumper before the buzzer sounded.

Ellis, MU's leading scorer, did not even attempt a shot until the 17:02 mark in the second half. But Ellis scored five of her nine points in the extra period, as MU out-scored Creighton 12-6.

Freshman Angel Robinson was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe and finished with a game-high 19 points. Robinson and classmate Paige Fiedorowicz each grabbed nine rebounds to pace the squad and Harris added 12 points.

Ally Thrall led the Bluejays with 17 points, while Cain posted 16, including 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Creighton, which ended up turning the ball over 29 times, rallied by shooting 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) as a team in the second half and a 42.9 clip for the game.