Blue Demons Open Season on Road
11/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
DePaul at Southern Illinois
SIU Arena (10,014) - Carbondale, Illinois
Saturday, November 23 - 5 p.m.
Click here for live audio and stats from the Southern Illinois website.
Season-Opener in Carbondale
The DePaul Blue Demons kickoff the 2002-03 campaign with a Saturday evening game at Southern Illinois. The Blue Demons return five players from last season's 15-14 squad that lost in the first round of the WNIT at Michigan State.
Saturday's game is the seventh meeting between the Blue Demons and Salukis with DePaul leading, 4-2. Two years ago, DePaul knocked off Southern Illinois, 74-57, in Carbondale.
Following the game with the Salukis, the Blue Demons head to Hawai'i for the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Invitational. DePaul takes on North Carolina in the first game of the eight-team tournament.
Season-Opening Notes
Beginning the 29th season of women's baketball at DePaul University, the Blue Demons are 20-8 all-time in the first game. A year ago, the team began the season by winning the Moran Realty Classic at the DePaul Athletic Center. Head coach Doug Bruno is 11-5 in the opener. The Blue Demons snapped a three-game season-opening losing streak with a 82-57 win over Eastern Washington.
13 Straight Against the State
The Blue Demons have won 13 consecutive games against opponents from the state of Illinois over the last three seasons. Last season, DePaul knocked off Illinois, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois and Northwestern. In 2000-01, the club went a perfect 6-0 against state programs.
DePaul's last loss came on Dec. 10, 1999, when Illinois posted a 74-64 win over the Blue Demons in Champaign.
In addition to winning 13 consecutive games, DePaul has also won 20 of the last 21 contests with state schools. Over the stretch of 21 games, DePaul has defeated Loyola and Northern Illinois four times and Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, and Northwestern three times each. They have also knocked off Southern Illinois twice and Chicago State once.
What's Back
DePaul returns five players that saw significant playing time for last year's 15-14 WNIT team. In addition to Jenni Dant, Lindsay Forsberg, Sarah Kustok, Jamie Smith and Laura Sobieszczyk, a pair of transfers are eligible after sitting out last season. Charlene Smith and Ashley Luke will provide immediate contributions after practicing with the team last season. Smith played a season at UW-Milwaukee while Luke played two seasons at Penn State.
Experience is there as all five of the returners played in at least 27 games last season. Those five returners also accounted for two-thirds of the scoring and shot a combined .365 from three-point range.
Khara Smith was redshirted last season after playing just 33 minutes in four games. Coach Bruno and his staff welcome six freshmen from four states to the roster for the 2002-03 season. Local standouts include Lauren Levine from Mother McAuley, Casmir Patterson of Marshall and Maureen Simon from Marian Catholic. Recruits from outside the Chicagoland area are Jarietta Benton of Houston, Texas, Shiesha McCollum from Washingtonville, N.Y. and Lindsey Deason of Fort Wayne, Ind. Deason will join the team after she is done playing goalkeeper for DePaul's soccer team.
Youth will be on DePaul's side this season as 11 of the 15 players on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores. The Blue Demons plan on redshirting Levine, Simon and Towers with all three being eligible beginning next season.
Who's Not Back
Gone is one-third of the scoring from a year ago in honorable mention All-American Lenae Williams. She was one of two seniors to graduate joining Yolanda Lewis. Williams finished her four-year career at DePaul with 2,046 career points to rank second in program history. Her 330 career three-point field goals is a DePaul and Conference USA career record and is ranked third in NCAA history. She is just one of three male or female players in DePaul history to score at least 2,000 career points, joining Diana Vines (2,504) and Mark Aguirre (2,182).
Preseason Picks
In the annual Conference USA Preseason Poll, chosen by the league's 14 coaches, the Blue Demons are picked to finish seventh. Prior to last season, Bruno's squad was picked seventh, but entered the league tournament as the fourth seed. Houston's Chandi Jones was named the league's Preseason Player of the Year.
Recapping the Exhibition Schedule
The DePaul women's basketball team opened the season with a pair of exhibition wins against the Chicago Challengers and the Dominican Republic National Team. DePaul defeated the Challengers, 74-59, on Nov. 9, before knocking off the Dominican Republic, 103-52, on Nov. 13.
Against the Challengers, DePaul increased an 11-point halftime lead to 21 points late in the game. Jenni Dant led four players in double-figures with a game-high 22 points.
The final exhibition tune-up saw the Blue Demons lead by as many as 56 on 13-of-34 shooting from three-point range. Khara Smith collected a double-double with game-high's of 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Nothing but the Best
The Blue Demons will once again play one of toughest schedules in the nation. On the 2002-03 slate are possible matchups with three of last season's Final Four participants. The Blue Demons have potential games against Connecticut and Oklahoma at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic. In Jan., DePaul travels to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. Other NCAA Tournament teams include Cincinnati, North Carolina, Notre Dame, TCU and Tulane.
Opening Tournaments
The highlight of the non-conference schedule is a trip to Hawai'i over Thanksgiving. The Blue Demons will be one of eight teams in the 24th annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, Nov. 29-Dec. 1. DePaul opens the tournament against North Carolina and will play either Oklahoma or Fordham on the second day of action. Other teams in the three-day tourney included host Hawai'i, Connecticut, Denver and Gonzaga. In 1997, DePaul defeated San Francisco and lost to Hawai'i in the Hawai'i Invitational.
In addition to the tournament in Hawaii, DePaul will host the annual Moran Realty Classic in December. The Blue Demons host local foe Loyola-Chicago while Montana State and Boston University travel to Chicago for the two-day event, Dec. 6-7. Boston University and Montana State open play on Friday followed by DePaul and Loyola. The consolation and championship games will be played on Saturday evening at the DePaul Athletic Center.
Taking Advantage From Beyond the Arc
Throughout the 2001-02 season adn the last four years, DePaul has taken advantage of the three-point basket. In the last four seasons, they have made 841 (7.1/gm) compared to 394 (3.3/gm) for the opposition.
In '01-02, the Blue Demons averaged over four more three-point field goals per game than their opponents. As a team, the Blue Demons made 230 three's compared to just 105 for the opposition. The team total was ranked first on the single-season chart and the team three-point percentage of .353 is third.
Over the last three seasons, the Blue Demons have totaled 655 treys. In addition to the 230 last season, they knocked down 202 in 00-01 and 223 during the 99-00 season.
Home Cookin'
In just two seasons, the DePaul Athletic Center has proven itself as one of the toughest venues in the Midwest. The Blue Demons have posted a 21-7 (.750) home record over two years. In 28 seasons, the Blue Demons have an all-time home court record of 263-87 (.751). Over 26 seasons at Alumni Hall, the women's basketball program won over 75 percent of their games with a 242-80 all-time record.
TV Time
At least four games will be televised this season, including three on the Conference USA Television Network. DePaul will appear on the league network in games against TCU and Marquette and at Louisville. The Charlotte game on Feb. 14 will be televised on FOX Sports Net Chicago. The C-USA Network will broadcast the tournament semifinals while the championship game will be carried live from The Pyramid in Memphis on ESPN2, Mar. 9.
Giving to Charity
DePaul was a combined 384-520 (.738) from the free throw line last season to rank first among Conference USA schools for the second straight season. The mark was also the second-best single-season percentage in league history. Over the final 15 contests, the squad shot a combined .770 (217-282).
In 2000-01, the Blue Demons led Conference USA with a .716 overall mark from the free throw line. In league play, DePaul shot .733 and were 241-326 (.739) over their last 19 games.
Looking Ahead
DePaul signed two players to a National Letter of Intent in the early signing period. Both newcomers next season are from the Chicago area. Head coach Doug Bruno signed 5-9 guard Ciara (pronounced Sierra) Johnson from Trinty High School and 6-1 guard Jenna Rubino out of Lincoln-Way East.
Entering her senior season at Trinity, Johnson was rated by the Chicago Sun-Times as one of the top 10 Underrated Players in the state of Illinois. As a junior, she averaged 11.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game while shooting over 60 percent from the field.
A McDonald's All-American nominee, Rubino returns for her senior year at Lincoln Way-East after averaging 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game a year ago. Prior to this season, she was named to the "Tremendous 26" which recognizes the top 13 girls and boys players in Illinois.