Sophomore guard McKenna Johnson scored a career-high 18 points against the Bluejays. Photo by Drew Kosmak.

NHU-HAN BUI | SPORTS CO-EDITOR | hbui@butler.edu 

The women’s basketball team dropped its seventh-consecutive game against Creighton, falling 67-58 to the Bluejays. The Dawgs fall to 9-18 on the season and 3-14 in Big East play.

Except for UConn, all seven games were lost by less than 10 points. Head coach Austin Parkinson believes the team has been playing well despite its record.

“I feel for our players,” Parkinson said. “With this losing streak, it’s not like we’re losing by 25 [points]. We played at St John’s last year [and] got spanked late in the season. We’re right there. Tonight we battled back from being down and fought really hard.”

The Bulldogs were held scoreless for almost four minutes in the first quarter while Creighton scored five points. Redshirt sophomore guard Saniya Jackson ended the early drought with a three-pointer, and the teams traded baskets back and forth to close out the quarter. The Bluejays held a narrow 19-14 lead at the end of the first after a basket was canceled due to a shot clock violation.

During the second quarter, the Dawgs struggled to score. Junior guard Kennedy Langham went 1-of-2 on free throws to give the team its only point for almost half of the quarter. Meanwhile, Creighton went on a 12-0 run, with five points coming from sophomore guard Allison Heathcock.

In the last three minutes of the quarter, the Bulldogs found their footing, with sophomore guard McKenna Johnson nailing eight straight points to become the game’s first double-digit scorer. Junior guard Nevaeh Jackson scored a layup on a fast break to extend the Dawgs’ run to 10-0, but Zediker and Heathcock combined for five points to close out the half, including a buzzer-beating three from Heathcock.

Butler opened the third quarter with a quick 6-0 run, and its defense also tightened down on the Bluejays, allowing a mere seven points during the quarter. First-year guard Anna Wypych led the charge on offense, scoring seven straight points to close out the quarter. Defensively, the Bulldogs allowed only 25% shooting from both the field and beyond the arc. 

Creighton scored a quick five points to extend its lead, but Johnson halted the Bluejays’ momentum with a three-pointer — her third of the game. From there, the two teams went back and forth, as neither side could gain momentum. Ultimately, the Dawgs’ inability to score layups was their downfall, as they fell by just eight points to Creighton.

Johnson led all players with a career-high 18 points, while Wypych was the other Bulldog in double digits with 12. 

“I thought McKenna Johnson had her best game as a Bulldog, and made some plays that are plays she’s really capable of making,” Parkinson said. “That was really exciting to be able to see. And then I thought [the] group of Kennedy, Nevaeh, Saniya and [senior forward] Lilly Stoddard absolutely played their hearts out. [They] just played really hard, got into it and we look like a different team defensively. Hopefully, we can carry that over.”

Creighton had three players score over 10 points. Graduate forward Grace Boffeli led the team with 15, first-year guard Ava Zediker chipped in 13 and Heathcock rounded the trio out with 11. Boffeli also led all players on the glass with nine rebounds.

The Bulldogs head on their final road trip, with their first stop at the nation’s capital. The team will take on Georgetown on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.