CREIGHTON — The first half was all Creighton as they built a 12-point lead. But, basketball games consist of two halves.
Final score Wolfpack 53, Lady Bulldogs 43.
Playing with a high level of intensity, the Wolfpack defense held the Lady Bulldogs to just 18 points over the final two quarters.
Scoring the first points of the third quarter, Creighton’s lead became 14 points. Then and there, the game changed as freshman Kinley Drueke had four points and Elizabeth Moser added a trey to cut into the Lady Bulldogs’ lead.
Back-to-back baskets by Mady Kurpgeweit cut the lead to eight points midway through the quarter. Freshman Gentry Zwingman then scored the last six points of the quarter for the Wolfpack, including a buzzer-beater, to slice Creighton’s lead to just four points, 41 to 37.
Coach Randy Eisenhauer said the key to the Wolfpack’s performance was a switch to a box-and-one defense which Creighton struggled to adjust to. Also, the Wolfpack’s full-court pressure led to turnovers.
“We’ve never practiced it (box and 1). I thought the girls really answered with what we asked,” he said in the hallway after the game. “One thing I like about this team right now is we draw some things up at halftime and they’ve answered so far. This was a battle and these girls battled for 32 minutes.”
Ninety seconds into the fourth quarter, EPPJ tied the score on back-to-back baskets by Kurpgeweit, whom Creighton had no answer for.
Braelyn Martinsen gave EPPJ the lead with a drive to the basket. She was injured on the play so G. Zwingman came off the bench to make a free throw to complete a three-point play for a 46 to 43 lead.
EPPJ then put the ball in Kurpgeweit’s hands and she responded with the team’s final seven points to secure the victory, boosting their record to 7-1.
Kurpgeweit led all scorers with 21 points as she was 10 of 19 from the field.
“She’s tough to stop inside. A lot of times she has mismatches in there,” Eisenhauer said about Kurpgeweit’s ability to get inside and score.
Martinsen and Drueke each finished with nine points and G. Zwingman had seven.
A key statistic in the game was steals. EPPJ had 13 to just three for Creighton. Moser and Kurpgeweit each had four steals. Moser also tied for the team-high in rebounds as she and Martinsen each had 11.
Creighton made eight of 17 treys in the game, all but one coming in the first half.
EPPJ 53, Creighton 50
Wolfpack………..13 7 17 16 — 53
Bulldogs…………17 15 9 9 — 50
Wolfpack — Kayton Zwingman 1-7 0-0 2, Gentry Zwingman 3-8 1-1 7, Elizabeth Moser 2-8 0-0 5, Kinley Drueke 4-9 1-2 9, Braelyn Martinsen 4-14 0-1 9, Kinley Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Jael Lammers 0-0 0-0 0, Mady Kurpgeweit 10-19 1-2 21. Team totals: 24-65 3-6 53. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 2-12 (E. Moser 1, Martinsen 1). Creighton team totals: 17-49 8-15 50. Three-point shots — Creighton 8-17.
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 36 (Martinsen 11, E. Moser 11), Bulldogs 32. Assists — Wolfpack 11 (Martinsen 6), Bulldogs 10. Steals — Wolfpack 13 (Kurpgeweit 4, E. Moser 4), Bulldogs 3. Turnovers — Wolfpack 13, Bulldogs 21.
