DePaul University Athletics
Blue Demons Play at Illinois
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
DePaul (3-1) at Illinois (3-0)
Wed., Dec. 4, 2002
7:00 p.m. - Champaign, Illinois
Click here for internet audio. Look for the DePaul game under women's basketball.
Back to the Mainland
The DePaul Blue Demons returned to snowy Chicago on Monday night and travel to Champaign for a Wednesday evening contest with Illinois. The Blue Demons enter the game having won two straight after losing to No. 11 North Carolina in the first game of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic.
The Fighting Illini stand at 3-0 after defeating St. Francis, Illinois State and UW-Green Bay.
The Blue Demons are 3-1 after wins over Fordham and Denver to claim fifth place at the tournament in Honolulu last weekend. Sophomore Jenni Dant was named to the All-Tournament team.
Noting the Blue Demons
DePaul’s roster features eight of the 12 players as either freshmen or sophomores... the club is trailing opponents by 5.0 points per game in the first half, but have a margin of 10.8 in the second stanza... four players are averaging at least nine points per game... three have at least 5.8 rebounds per contest... in the last two games the Blue Demons have assisted 72.5 percent (37-of-51) of the field goals... DePaul has started three of the four games with a three-pointers... the season-opening five-game road trip is the longest to start the season in program history... the 1980-81 campaign opened with four straight road games... after defeating Southern Illinois, DePaul is 21-8 all-time in season openers... head coach Doug Bruno is 12-5 in first games.
14 Straight Against the State
The Blue Demons are in the midst of 14 consecutive victories against opponents from the state of Illinois over the last four 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. That game is also their last game played at Assembly Hall. The Blue Demons and Fighting Illini played at the United Center two years ago and the DePaul Athletic Center last season.
In addition to winning 14 consecutive games, DePaul has also won 21 of the last 22 contests with state schools. Over the stretch of 22 games, DePaul has defeated Loyola and Northern Illinois four times and Illinois, Illinois-Chicago Northwestern and Southern Illinois three times each. They have also knocked off Chicago State once.
Recapping the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic
After a tourney-opening loss to No. 11 North Carolina, the Blue Demons bounced back and claimed fifth place in the eight-team event. DePaul defeated Fordham and Denver in the consolation bracket.
Sophomore forward Jenni Dant was named to the All-Tournament team after leading the Blue Demons with 13 points and five rebounds per game. She joined a host of the nation’s top players as a member of the eight-player squad.
Game One - No. 11 North Carolina 82, DePaul 66
On Friday, the Tar Heels took a 14-point lead at the end of the first half and held DePaul off in a 82-66 win. The Blue Demons jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but North Carolina stormed back and took a 22-14 lead. A pair of free throws by Jamie Smith started and ended a 13-3 run for DePaul to close the gap to 28-27 with just over eight minutes left in the first half. The first stanza ended with Correta Brown’s third three of the half with five seconds remaining to give the Tar Heels their largest lead of the half at 51-37. North Carolina ended the half with a 10-2 run for the 14-point halftime lead.
DePaul closed the lead early in the second half as Charlene Smith went on her own 7-0 run with a pair of free throws, a three-pointer and a lay-up off a steal to cut the Tar Heel lead to 58-46. With just over 12 minutes left in the contest, UNC increased the lead to 65-48 on three straight jumpers by Nikita Bell. Back-to-back buckets by North Carolina’s Kenya McBee and La’Tangela Atkinson upped the UNC advantage to, 69-60, before Lindsay Forsberg answered with her second trey of the half. That would be as close as the Blue Demons would get as North Carolina held the DePaul to just six points over the final 7:35 of the game.
Game Two - DePaul 92, Fordham 73
DePaul found their shooting stroke and lit up the scoreboard with a 92-73 win over the Fordham Rams on Saturday afternoon. The Rams took an early 8-3 lead on four free throws and a pair of jumpers only to see the Blue Demons scored the game’s next six points to take a 9-8 lead with 15:45 on the clock.
After Fordham’s Patrica Williams knocked down a pair of free throws, Sarah Kustok nailed one of five first-half three’s for the Blue Demons to regain the lead at 12-10. The Rams regrouped and went on an 11-4 run to build a 21-16 advantage. Dant ended the Fordham run with two free throws before she stole the ball and went uncontested at the other end to give the Blue Demons the lead for good. Back-to-back three-pointers by Forsberg and Laura Sobieszczyk increased the DePaul advantage to 28-23 with under six minutes left in the first half.
DePaul opened the second half like they ended the first with five treys in the first seven minutes. They outscored the Rams, 22-11, and built a 63-45 advantage with 13:46 left in the game. During the run, Ashley Luke tallied a pair of three’s while Forsberg, Kustok and Dant had one each. The lead grew to as many as 32 points on a Sobieszczyk three-pointer with just under four minutes left in the contest.
Game Three - DePaul 55, Denver 44
After spotting the Denver Pioneers a 12-0 lead five minutes into the game, the Blue Demons held them to just 32 points for the rest of the afternoon to claim fifth place. Ashley Luke scored the first points for DePaul on a 25-foot three-pointer with just over 15 minutes left in the first half. Luke’s three sparked a 13-2 run by the Blue Demons as they held the Pioneers scoreless over the next seven minutes. Denver’s Sarah Hart ended the scoring drought with a baseline jumper only to see Kustok find Khara Smith for a lay-up to trim the deficit to 14-13. DePaul upped the advantage to 22-18 before the Pioneers scored the final six points of the half to take a 24-22 lead at the intermission.
Khara Smith took over to start the second half, scoring the first 11 points of the period as the Blue Demons built a 35-24 lead. Jamie Smith added a bucket during the run off a feed from Laura Sobieszczyk. The Pioneers found the net at 14:43 and followed that with a three-pointer to close the gap to six points. Jenni Dant’s three-point play made the score 41-32, but Denver answered with a 10-0 run to take the lead briefly at 42-41. DePaul held the Pioneers to a pair of free throws over the final 4:42 as Sobieszczyk, Khara Smith and Dant hit free throws to seal the win. The final margin of 11 points was DePaul’s largest lead of the game.
Khara Smith Named Conference USA Player of the Week
Redshirt freshman forward Khara Smith was named Conference USA Player of the Week following her double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds at Southern Illinois last Saturday. The 6-2 forward scored 12 points in the second half and grabbed eight boards to lead DePaul in the come-from-behind win. She also added five steals while playing just 24 minutes.
She is the first league player to earn the honor this season. Lenae Williams was named C-USA Player of the Week twice last season for DePaul.
Nothing but the Best
The Blue Demons will once again play one of toughest schedules in the nation. In Hawaii, the Blue Demons lost to No. 11 North Carolina. In Dec., they host No. 9 Notre Dame and 21st-ranked George Washington. In Jan., DePaul travels to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. The Conference USA slate includes TCU and Cincinnati.
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.
Opening Tournaments
The highlight of the non-conference schedule is a trip to Hawai’i over Thanksgiving. The Blue Demons were one of eight teams in the 24th annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, Nov. 29-Dec. 1. DePaul lost in the opener to No. 11 North Carolina before defeating Fordham and Denver to claim fifth place. Connecticut defeated Oklahoma to win the tourney title.
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 and the last four years, DePaul has taken advantage of the three-point basket. In the last four seasons, they have made 846 (7.1/gm) compared to 396 (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 Trinity 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.