Zediker's Game-Winner Seals 73-71 For Creighton Women
Brookings, S.D. -- Sophomore Ava Zediker delivered the game-winning shot as time expired, but the 73-71 win for Creighton Women's Basketball at South Dakota State on Monday, November 2 was a complete team effort.
Junior Allison Heathcock recorded her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while graduate transfer Nia Holloway scored 13 in her first game as a Bluejay.
The victory pushed Creighton to 1-0 on the season, while South Dakota State fell to 0-1.
Coming out of the locker room blazing, Creighton got contributions from seven different players to build a 21-16 edge in the opening frame. The work of many hands helped the Bluejays shoot 8-of-15 (53.3%) in the first stanza, including 4-for-6 from long range. Heathcock started the game with a trey and also connected from beyond the arc in the final minute.
Riding the energy of its home crowd of nearly 2,500, South Dakota State responded with 19 points in the second quarter and held Creighton to just 2-of-12 from the field as the Jackrabbits took a 35-29 lead into half. As important as the score, Zediker picked up her third and fourth fouls in the closing minutes of the half.
With Zediker forced to start the second half on the bench, Holloway stepped into the limelight with back-to-back buckets to start the third quarter. A trey from SDSU's Emilee Fox did nothing to stop Creighton's momentum as sophomore Neleigh Gessert connected for two at the line and Holloway knocked down one of two from the charity stripe. Finally, sophomore Kendall McGee capped a 10-3 surge with a traditional three-point play to put Creighton up 39-38 (6:34).
South Dakota State rallied as Maggie Hartwig scored the next five consecutive points and went on to push its lead out to its largest margin at 57-49 in the final minute of the frame. Holloway went back to work with a bucket in the paint on the final possession of the third to send the game to the final stanza at 57-51.
The added rest for Zediker energized the Iowa native as she was dominant in the fourth, scoring 16 points and shooting 6-for-8 from the field. South Dakota State's All-American Brooklyn Meyer started the fourth with a touch in the paint to extend SDSU's lead back to eight (59-51), but Zediker and Heathcock quickly cut the deficit in half with a jumper from Zediker and a tap in that saw Heathcock soar in from the wing to put back a miss by Holloway.
Creighton methodically attacked the Jackrabbits, finally pulling even at 65-65 with 3:47 remaining on a driving layup from freshman Mya Moore.
Down the stretch SDSU went to Meyer for a bucket, only to see Zediker answer. Twice more South Dakota State took the lead, only to see Zediker refuse to be denied.
Knotted at 71-71 in the final minute the Bluejay defense worked through a pair of timeouts from Jackrabbit head coach Aaron Johnston to deliver a stop as Heathcock secured the defensive rebound with 18 seconds remaining.
Forced to go the length of the floor Zediker worked the clock down to four seconds before creating enough space to elevate and deliver the game-winner.
Zediker closed with a game-high 21 points, while Holloway (13 points), Neleigh Gessert (12 points) and Heathcock (10 points) all finished in double figures. The Jackrabbits got a team-high 15 points from Audrey Shindelar, 14 from Fox and 12 from Meyer in the loss.
Creighton is back in action on Monday, November 9 as the Bluejays face North Dakota State at 7:00 pm in Fargo, N.D.