Women's Hoops Wins At Southern Illinois
12/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The DePaul Blue Demons snapped their two-game losing streak on Wednesday night with a 74-57 win over Southern Illinois in Carbondale. The duo of Lenae Williams and Candis Blankson was too much for the Salukis as the two combined for 35 points and nine three-pointers.
Southern Illinois' only lead of the game came with their first basket to make the score 2-0. After Williams answered the Saluki bucket with a three-pointer, the Blue Demons never looked back. DePaul built leads of 22-6 with 7:55 left in the first half and 34-17 with 1:25 to go.
Head coach Doug Bruno took advantage of the depth of his team as all 13 players were into the game by the 10-minute mark of the first half. DePaul's defense was the key in the first half as they held the Salukis to just 8-of-27 shooting from the field and outrebounded Southern Illinois by a 26 to 13 margin.
In the second half, Southern Illinois threatened the lead as they made the score 56-48 with 8:43 remaining. However, that was as close as the Salukis would get as the DePaul outscored Southern Illinois 23-13 over the remainder of the game.
Williams finished with a game-high 19 points, including five three-pointers while Blankson chipped in 16 points with four three-pointers. Jamie Smith added 12 points and seven rebounds while Jamie Lewis totaled 10 boards and seven points.
DePaul plays the second of four straight games against teams from the state of Illinois on Saturday when they host Northern Illinois. Tipoff with the Huskies is set for 7:30 p.m. at the DePaul Athletic Center. The Blue Demons will play Northwestern on Dec. 12 at the Athletic Center before making their first appearance at the United Center on Dec. 16 against Illinois.