Creighton holds off Syracuse to advance

McKenzie Fujan scored a game-high 24 points to lead the 10th-seed Creighton Bluejays to an upset victory over the seventh- seed Syracuse Orange in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Thompson- Boling Arena.

Sarah Nelson added 17 points and seven rebounds and Marissa Janning had 10 points, seven boards and six assists for Creighton (25-7) which will battle second-seed Tennessee in the second round.

Kayla Alexander put in 23 points to go with eight rebounds for Syracuse (24-8) which ended the regular season ranked No. 22 in the nation. Carmen Tyson- Thomas added 13 points and Brittney Sykes pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end.

Each team shot worse than 30 percent from the floor and recorded just eight field goals in the first half as they went into the break tied 24-24.

Creighton found a rhythm on the offensive end of the floor in the second half when it shot 48 percent from the field and nailed 5-of-2 shots from beyond the arc. Though the Orange shot just 34.5 percent in the period they managed to cut the Bluejays' lead to 57-56 with 19 seconds left on a layup from Tyson- Thomas. Fujan nailed two free-throws on the other end and Nelson added two more after Elashier Hall missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer for Syracuse.

The Bluejays 11-of-36 showing from beyond the arc was the difference as Syracuse managed just three triples in the contest.