DePaul University Athletics
DePaul Hosts UW-Milwaukee
11/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Game #3
#20/20 DePaul (2-0) vs. UW-Milwaukee (0-1)
DePaul Athletic Center - Chicago, Ill.
Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 - 7:00 p.m.
Game Notes
Internet Audio (pre-game show begins at 6:40 p.m.)
CHICAGO - The DePaul women’s basketball team continues their season-opening six-game homestand with a Tuesday evening matchup with UW-Milwaukee. Tipoff at the DePaul Athletic Center is set for 7 p.m.
DePaul enters the game at 2-0 after winning the Moran Realty Classic last weekend. The club knocked off Murray State, 96-58, and USC, 99-77, to win the two-day tourney.
The Blue Demons enters the week at No. 20 in the latest Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches’ top 25’s.
The game can be heard live at www.depaulbluedemons.com. Jeff Friedman is in his fourth season on the headset for the Blue Demons and will describe at least 20 games this season on DePaul’s official athletics website. Former DePaul standout Sarah Kustok joins Friedman on to provide color commentary. A 20-minute pre-game show precedes each broadcast and a post-game show wraps things up after every game.
Noting the Blue Demons: The Blue Demons are 23-8 all-time in season-openers... the 96 points against Murray State was the second-highest total in school history for the first game of the season... through two games, the club is shooting a sizzling .857 (36-42) from the free throw line... individually, Jenni Dant is 12-of-12 from the charity stripe... dating back to last season (32 games), the team has scored at least 90 points in 13 games... DePaul has scored at least 50 points in a half twice this season... at least four players have scored in double-figures in both games this season... it happened in 17 games in 2003-04... DePaul is victorious in 17 of the last 22 regular season C-USA games... over the last two-plus seasons, the Blue Demons are 29-1 at home with the lone loss coming in overtime to No. 2 Tennessee in December 2003... in those 30 games, DePaul is 27-1 at the DePaul Athletic Center and 2-0 at the Allstate Arena... the average margin of victory during that run is 22.5 points per game.
Checking on the Panthers: UW-Milwaukee enters the game at 0-1 in the early portion of the season. They dropped a 74-66 decision at Marquette on Saturday to open the 2004-05 season. The Panthers return 12 players from last season’s 17-12 team. The top-returning scorer is Nichole Drummond with 9.5 points per game last season. She scored 16 points off the bench on Saturday against the Golden Eagles. UWM was picked to finish second in the preseason Horizon League poll. Head coach Sandy Botham is in her ninth season as head coach of the Panthers with a 129-97 record.
The UW-Milwaukee Series: Tuesday is second all-time meeting between the two teams with the Blue Demons holding a 1-0 advantage. DePaul knocked off UW-Milwaukee, 94-62, in the 2003 Moran Realty Classic. Ashley Luke led five players in double-figures with 18 points as head coach Doug Bruno notched his 300th win at DePaul University.
Jenni Dant Named C-USA Player of the Week: DePaul senior Jenni Dant was named the first Conference USA Player of the Week for the 2004-05 season on Monday. She was named MVP of the Moran Realty Classic as the Blue Demons knocked off Murray State and USC at the DePaul Athletic Center. Dant scored a career-high 29 points in the championship game of the tournament to lead the Blue Demons. She also added three steals and two rebounds against the Women of Troy while going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. It is the second time in her career and just the eighth time in school history that a player has gone perfect from the free throw line with at least 10 attempts. Dant was 12-of-12 last season at Northern Illinois. On Friday, the senior guard played just 21 minutes in the win over Murray State and collected nine points, five assists and three steals. She was also 2-of-2 from the free throw for a perfect 12-for-12 on the season. It is the first time in her career that Dant has been named the C-USA Player of the Week.
Khara Smith Named to Wooden, Wade and Naismith Award Preseason Lists: DePaul junior Khara Smith has been named to the preseason lists for three of women’s basketball’s national player of the year awards. She is one of 30 players nominated for the Wooden Award and 31 student-athletes for the Wade Trophy. A year ago, Smith was one of 16 semifinalists for the inaugural Women’s Wooden Award. She is also one of 50 nominees for the Naismith Award. Smith was one of five players named a first team preseason All-American by Lindy’s and a second-teamer by Athlon Sports. She was joined on the Lindy’s first team by Seimone Augustus of LSU, Janel McCarville of Minnesota, Notre Dame’s Jacqueline Batteast and Kendra Wecker of Kansas State.
Sweet Home Chicago: The Blue Demons begin the 2004-05 campaign with six straight home games at the DePaul Athletic Center. It is the second-longest homestand to start a season in the program’s history. The 1996-97 season started with eight consecutive home games that saw the Blue Demons post a 7-1 record. The 1985-86 season started with five straight home games and six of the first seven in Chicago.
What's Back: DePaul returns eight players from last season’s 23-7 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second round. The returners include three starters in Jenni Dant, Charlene Smith and Khara Smith. The eight players accounted for 78 percent of the offense a year ago while the trio of starters totaled 62 percent of the scoring in 2003-04. DePaul also returns 73 percent of the rebounding. Joining Dant and the two Smith’s are key reserves Jarietta Benton, Casmir Patterson, Jenna Rubino, Maureen Simon and Claudette Towers.
Eyeing 1,000: On two occasions last season, a player reached the 1,000-point club at DePaul. Jenni Dant became the 18th player in DePaul basketball history to surpass the 1,000-point mark in her career with a three-pointer at USF. Through 91 career games, the senior has 1,177 points. Khara Smith joined Dant on at TCU with a jumper in the first half. The junior is the 19th player with at least 1,000 career points in program history. Smith’s average of 16.1 points per game over her first 66 career games give her 1,061 career points.
Up next on the 1,000-point horizon is senior Charlene Smith. Smith surpassed the career 1,000-point mark in the season-opener against Murray State. She needs just 74 points for 1,000 points at DePaul. She scored 89 as a freshman at UW-Milwaukee and accumulated 926 in her two-plus seasons with DePaul.
Preseason Picks: Prior to the start of the season, the Conference USA coaches picked the Blue Demons to win the C-USA Championship. The coaches also named junior forward Khara Smith the league’s preseason Player of the Year. DePaul was followed by TCU, Houston, Louisville and Marquette.
Senior Charlene Smith joined her cousin on the league’s preseason All-Conference team after earning second team All-CUSA honors after last season. The Smith’s were joined by Houston’s Sancho Lyttle, Sandora Irvin of TCU, Jazz Covington from Louisville and Jessica Dickson of USF.
Recapping the Moran Realty Classic: The Blue Demons captured their fourth straight Moran Realty Classic title with wins over Murray State and Southern California. DePaul opened the tournament with a 96-58 win over the Racers and a 99-77 victory over USC in the championship game. Jenni Dant was named tournament MVP after a career-high 29 points in the championship game. She was joined by teammates Allie Quigley and Khara Smith on the All-Tournament team and USC’s Jamie Hagiya, Rebecca Remington of Murray State and Massachusetts’ Katie Nelson.
Home Cookin’: In four-plus seasons, the DePaul Athletic Center has proven itself as one of the toughest venues in the Midwest. The Blue Demons have posted a 48-8 (.857) record in the arena’s first 56 games. In their 31st season, the Blue Demons have an all-time home court record of 292-88 (.768). 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. At the Allstate Arena, the women’s program has posted an all-time record of 20-4.
In 30 seasons of women’s basketball at DePaul University there have been 13 streaks of at least 10 straight home victories. The longest streak was a 20-game run from Feb. 4, 1978 to Feb. 19, 1979. The 18-gamer that ended last season was the second-longest streak in school history followed by a 15-game home court win streak from Mar. 5, 1994 to Feb. 26, 1995. Over the last two years, the team is 29-1 at home with the lone loss coming in overtime to Tennessee on Dec. 17, 2003. The current 11-game winning streak is the 13th in school history of at least 10 games.
Taking Advantage From Beyond the Arc: The DePaul women’s basketball program has turned the three-point field goal into a potent offensive weapon. As a team, DePaul has made at least one three-pointer in 239 consecutive games. Since the start of the 2000-01 season, the club has knocked down 915 trifectas compared to just 465 for the opposition. The Blue Demons set new single-season records with 230 in 2001-02 and 233 in 2002-03. Over the last five years, the team has totaled at least 200 three-pointers in each season.
In 30 games last season, the Blue Demons outscored their opponents by 294 points from three-point range (9.8 ppg). DePaul was 215-654 (.329) from behind the arc while opponents were 117-386 (.303). The squad averaged 7.2 three’s per game while the opposition made 3.9 treys per contest.
Giving to Charity: Along with the accuracy from behind the arc, the Blue Demons also rank among the best in Conference USA from the free throw line. Over the last four seasons, DePaul finished either first or second in the league in free throw percentage. A year ago, the Blue Demons were second with a .724 (480-663) team mark. The squad finished the 2002-03 campaign ranked second with a .718 (425-592) season percentage. Prior to finishing second, DePaul was a combined 384-520 (.738) from the free throw line in 2001-02 to rank first among Conference USA schools for the second straight season. In 2000-01, the Blue Demons led Conference USA with a .716 overall mark from the free throw line.
Through two games in 2004, the team is shooting a sizzling .857 from the line. DePaul is a combined 36-of-42 from the charity stripe with Jenni Dant posting a perfect 12-of-12 effort. Allie Quigley is 5-for-5 from the line while Ciara Johnson is 4-of-4.
TV Time: As always, the DePaul women’s basketball program will be featured multiple times on national television. This season, the Blue Demons are scheduled for at least five televised games. They will be on the ESPN Network twice with games at Marquette on Jan. 9 and against TCU on Feb. 13. FSN Chicago is set to televise the Jan. 30 game against USF at the DePaul Athletic Center. The C-USA TV Network will televise the regular-season finale on Feb. 27 against Marquette. The Blue Demons are just one of 12 women’s basketball programs in the country scheduled to appear on the ESPN network multiple times this season.
Preseason Picks, Part II: The DePaul women’s basketball team is picked among the nation’s top 25 in various preseason publications. For the second straight year, DePaul is ranked in the Athlon Sports preseason top 25. After being ranked No. 18 before last season, the Blue Demons find themselves at No. 20 this year. The Blue Demons are making their first preseason top 25 appearance in Lindy’s at No. 24. DePaul is the lone C-USA school in the top 25. The magazine picks Tennessee first and Purdue at No. 23. The Blue Demons will play at those two schools in a span of four days in December. DePaul travels to Purdue on Dec. 9 and Tennessee on Dec. 12. Athlon Sports has the Lady Vols ranked No. 5 and the Boilermakers at preseason No. 16.
Nothing but the Best: The 2004-05 schedule features 12 possible opponents that played in the postseason a year ago. Among the dozen are six teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last March. The Blue Demons take on Purdue, Tennessee and Valparaiso in non-conference action while playing Conference USA opponents Houston, Marquette and TCU. A year ago, Conference USA sent nine teams to postseason action. Houston, Marquette and TCU joined the Blue Demons in the NCAA Tournament while Charlotte, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and USF played in the WNIT. A potential opponent at the Blue Sky Classic at Dartmouth is WNIT semifinalist Richmond.
Final C-USA Season: The 2004-05 season is the 10th and final campaign for the Blue Demons in Conference USA. DePaul enters the BIG EAST Conference beginning next season with fellow C-USA members Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette and USF. The 16-team lineup for the 2005-06 BIG EAST consists of Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia. The recently approved scheduling format consists of each team playing each opponent once with one repeat opponent. The top 12 teams qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Conn. BIG EAST women’s teams have won the last five NCAA titles.
Against the State: DePaul has seen recent success against opponents from the state of Illinois. Over the last 24 games against Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Northwestern and Southern Illinois, the Blue Demons have posted 23 victories. In 2004-05 against Northwestern, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois, the club was a perfect 5-0.
The Illini snapped a 14-game winning streak against state opponents for DePaul with the 71-67 decision on Dec. 4, 2002. In addition to the 14-game streak ended during the 2002-03 season, DePaul has won 29 of the last 31 games against state opponents. Currently, the Blue Demons have nine straight wins over Illinois schools and are scheduled to play four state programs this season.
Looking Ahead: The DePaul coaching staff signed Erin Cattell to a National Letter of Intent during the fall signing period. She is the first recruit of the BIG EAST Conference era of women's basketball at DePaul. Cattell, a 6-1 forward, led Sandburg High School, to a 23-10 record as a junior. She averaged just over 14 points with seven rebounds per game during the 2003-04 campaign while shooting over 85 percent from the free throw line. The Orland Park, Ill., native was named a third team All-State honoree by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and earned All-Area honors from the Chicago Sun-Times.
