OMAHA, Neb. - The Creighton Bluejays attempted 30 free-throws and scored 12 more points at the line on Thursday, carrying that advantage to a 71-62 victory over the visiting Indiana State women's basketball team inside D.J. Sokol Arena.

With the loss, ISU falls into sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 6-7 league record, while the Bluejays improve to 11-3 in MVC play, keeping pace at two games behind UNI at the top of the standings.

The Sycamores shot out of the gates, scoring the game's first eight points on a pair of free-throws from junior Deja Mattox and 3-pointers from sophomore Taylor Whitley and senior Kelsie Cooley, with Cooley's triple capping the run at the 18:11 mark of the first half.

Whitley would hit her second trey of the game at the 15:30 mark, giving the Sycamores a seven-point lead, at 12-5, but that would be ISU's final points for the next six minutes. Creighton used a 17-0 run over those six minutes to take a 22-12 lead. Cooley would end the CU run near the midpoint of the first half, cutting the Creighton lead to eight points with 9:32 left until the break.

The Sycamores continued to battle, using Cooley's layup to start a 7-1 run that would get them back within four, at 23-19 with 7:12 remaining in the half, but Creighton responded in kind with an 8-0 run of their own to go up 31-19 with just under five minutes until halftime.

The Bluejays took a 32-23 lead into the locker room, with Whitley leading ISU with eight points at the half. Cooley added five points and six rebounds while junior Deja Mattox also chipped in five in the game's first 20 minutes.

Indiana State again started a half in strong fashion, scoring on their first three possessions of the second stanza to cut the Creighton lead to five points, at 34-29 with 18:49 to play on a jumper by junior Shannon Thomas. The Sycamores would chip away at the Bluejays lead over the next 10 minutes, getting within one point, at 49-48, with 9:15 to go on a pair of free-throws from junior Brittany Schoen. That would be as close as the Sycamores would get, however, as Creighton put a stop to the momentum ISU was gaining with a 12-2 run the next three minutes of action, building a 61-50 advantage with 6:19 left.

The Sycamores never got closer than seven points for the remaining six minutes on Thursday, as Creighton knocked down all eight of their attempts from the free-throw line.

For the game, Whitley matched her season high with 20 points, going 9-for-14 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Thomas and Mattox both added 13 points, with 11 of Thomas' coming in the second half. Schoen went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe, finishing with nine points overall, while Cooley tossed in five in the first half and freshman Anna Munn hit her only two free-throw attempts.

Creighton dominated the free-throw line on Thursday, collecting 23 points from the 30 attempts, compared to ISU's 11-for-17 effort. The Sycamores are now 0-8 on the season when their opponents shoot more free-throws in a game.

The Sycamores head to Des Moines, Iowa, for their next game, taking on the Drake Bulldogs on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. (ET). The contest will be key for the future positioning in the State Farm MVC Tournament, as the Bulldogs sit just ahead of the Sycamores in the MVC standings, at 7-7 this year in league play.