Blue Demons Top Ramblers, 80-72
11/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Boxscore
CHICAGO - Lenae Williams led five players in double-figures with a game-high 25 points as DePaul held off Loyola, 80-72, at the Gentile Center on Thursday night. Williams' bid for her first career double-double came up short as she grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Blue Demons. DePaul had to finish the game with just five players as two of the seven available fouled out late in the game.
The Blue Demons started cold from the field as Loyola jumped out to a 12-6 lead. At that point, Williams drained one of her three three-pointers followed by layups from Sarah Kustok and Claudette Towers to give the Blue Demons the 13-12 advantage with 10:13 remaining. Loyola's Sarah Hamilton stopped the brief run to go up 14-13, but that would be the last time the Ramblers would lead in the ballgame. DePaul's advantage grew to 12 points as Laura Sobieszczyk drilled a three just before the half ended with DePaul leading, 42-30.
The second half started with DePaul going on a 12-4 run over the first four minutes to gain a 54-34 lead. From there, the Blue Demons went cold as they didn't score for nearly five minutes until a Kustok three-pointer with just over 11 minutes left upped the margin to 57-41.
After Loyola put together a 19-6 run to trim the lead to 63-60 with five minutes left, Williams took over the ballgame by hitting a layup, making two free throws and assisting layups by Jamie Smith and Towers. The biggest bucket of that span was a 23-footer as the shot clock was winding down to put DePaul up by six with just 44 seconds left in the game.
In addition to just missing her first career double-double, Williams tied a career high with six assists. Kustok scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Smith had 12 points, seven boards and three blocked shots. Others in double-figures were Jenni Dant with 13 and Sobieszczyk with 11 points.
With the win, the Blue Demons improve to 4-2 and head back to the DePaul Athletic Center for a pair of home games. Saturday night, DePaul hosts Toledo followed by a Tuesday evening game against Illinois.