Beyond the Box Score: Turnovers continue to haunt Dawgs as comeback attempt falls short against Creighton

Sydney Jaynes scored 16 points on 7-10 shooting to lead the Bulldogs versus Creighton. Photo by Jonathan Wang. 

DAVID JACOBS | SPORTS CO-EDITOR | drjacobs@butler.edu 

It is no secret that the women’s basketball team has had a rough go of it this season. 

Since the get-go junior guard Jordan Meulemans suffered a season-ending knee injury in the pre-season, and graduate all-conference guard Caroline Strande recently joined her on the IR list with a similar injury sustained on Dec. 29. 

Coming off one of the worst losses under head coach Austin Parkinson against Xavier, the Dawgs once again fell short against Creighton on Jan. 22 by a score of 63-52 leaving the team at a crossroads in the season at 12-9. 

“Coming into the game we lost to Wisconsin, Marquette and Xavier where we had a one-point lead [late in regulation],” Parkinson said. “Each instance we missed layups, we’re three possessions away from being a 15-win team heading into tonight.”

A common theme that has plagued the Dawgs all season — specifically in the absence of Strande — once again became prevalent during the sixth conference loss: turnovers. 

The Bulldogs committed 20 turnovers, which continually killed any momentum that would build against one of the top teams in the conference. 

“Since Strande has gone out, it’s changed,” Parkinson said. “Tonight we shot the ball well enough, but there’s a lot of careless errors. That’s just something in practice [that] we’re going to have to go back and emphasize.” 

On the possessions that did not result in a turnover, points likely came off an impressively designed set by Parkinson — who even slowed down the pace of the game to communicate in offensive sets from the sideline during the first half. 

With what felt like the world collapsing on top of them at times, the Dawgs managed to keep it to a 31-23 deficit in the first half — even knotting the score at 20 late in the first half. However, out of the lockers, the Bluejays offensive production began to pile up against Butler — leading to as big as a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. 

Despite the deficit, the Dawgs would go on to have their best quarter of the game — cutting the deficit to as small as seven to give themselves a fighting chance behind double-digit performances from senior leaders Kilyn McGuff and Sydney Jaynes

“I thought Jaynes had a really nice game [throughout] and McGuff late in the second half really got going,” Parkinson said. “That’s what your seniors have to do, Creighton has four kids in the starting lineup that may be 23 years old — we’re playing 18,19-year-olds.” 

Those underclassmen — first-year guards Lily Carmody and Lily Zeinstra — have been thrust into roles bigger than ever anticipated for their rookie campaigns. 

“Zeinstra and Carmoday are getting better each game,” Parkinson said. “They’re learning, being put into different situations – we just got to keep getting better.”

The Bulldogs will be back in action in Hinkle against DePaul in hopes of continuing to climb the ladder towards year-end improvement.

“We’re not that far off,” Parkinson said. “In order for us to get some of these wins, we’ve got to box out and take care of the ball — it can’t be one or the other.” 

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