Blue Demons Host Missouri State in Final Non-Conference Game
12/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Game #14
#13/13 DePaul (12-1) vs. Missouri State (5-2)
DePaul Athletic Center - Chicago, Ill.
Dec. 28, 2005 - 7:00 p.m.
Game Notes
Live Audio
CHICAGO - The DePaul Blue Demons wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule with a Wednesday night game against Missouri State. The Blue Demons, winners of five straight, are looking for the 30th straight victory at the DePaul Athletic Center. DePaul is looking to start the season at 13-1 for just the second time in program history.
The Blue Demons stand at No. 13 in both the latest Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Top 25. DePaul is one of four BIG EAST programs in the nation’s top 13.
The Missouri State game and all remaining regular-season games can be heard live at www.depaulbluedemons.com. Jason Benetti is in his first year on the headset for the Blue Demons and describes all the action this season.
Following this week’s action, the Blue Demons return to BIG EAST play with the first home conference game. DePaul welcomes Pittsburgh to the DePaul Athletic Center on Jan. 3 with a 7 p.m. game televised on CSTV.
Noting the Blue Demons: DePaul started the season at 7-0 for the second time in the last three years and the third time in school history... the 12-1 record matches the best start through 13 games... only one other team (2003-04) has started the season at 13-1... since the 79-77 overtime loss at USF, DePaul’s average margin of victory is 34.6 points per game... the 91-79 victory at UW-Milwaukee on Nov. 30 was the 550th win in program history... in the 32nd season of play at DePaul, the women’s basketball program is 556-332... Allie Quigley became the 10th player in school history with 100 three-pointers on Dec. 22 at Northwestern... Ciara Johnson’s 6-for-6 effort against Saint Francis marked the 11th in school history that a player has gone perfect from the field with a minimum of five attempts... Claudette Towers has started 12 of the 13 games this season... she entered her senior season with four career starts... Khara Smith’s nine double-doubles lead the nation... the Rainbow Wahine Classic title was DePaul’s sixth straight in-season tournament championship... they won the Moran Realty Classic in 2002, 2003, 2004 and the Blue Sky Restaurant Classic in 2004... the team opened this season with a DePaul Invitational championship followed by the Rainbow Wahine Classic title... the Blue Demons have scored at least 50 points in a half four times this season... it occurred 11 times during the 2004-05 season... the team is 13-0 in games where they have scored 50 in at least one half... in five of 12 games this season, the team has combined to shoot better than .500 from the field... UW-Milwaukee and USF are the only teams to post a higher field goal percentage this season... over the last five-plus seasons (166 games), DePaul has scored at least 80 points in 64 games.. they hold a 61-3 record in those games.
Missouri State Preview: The Lady Bears enter the game at 5-2 after picking up two victories over Illinois-Chicago and Oral Roberts at the Fun in the Sun Shootout in Cancun, Mexico. Since dropping the season-opener, Missouri State has won five of their last six games with the lone loss via a 68-57 defeat at #16 Oklahoma. Kari Koch leads the team with 24.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. She has also knocked down 32-of-56 (.571) three-point attempts. Head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson is in her fourth season at Missouri State with a record of 76-27.
The Series: Wednesday is the first meeting between the two programs.
Against the Missouri Valley Conference: DePaul is 26-10 all-time against programs from the Missouri Valley. The most common opponent for the Blue Demons from the Missouri Valley is Southern Illinois where DePaul holds a 6-3 record.
Interesting and Irrelevant: The Blue Demons have scored an identical amount of points in each half of the last two games. At Loyola-Chicago, DePaul scored 48 in each half and followed that up by scoring 39 points in each period at Northwestern. A closer examination of the numbers at Loyola shows that 48’s were wild on Dec. 20. In addition to scoring 48 points in each half, the Blue Demons also won by 48 points, Loyola scored 48 points and DePaul totaled 48 rebounds in the game.
Add it Up: With 13 rebounds against UNLV on Nov. 19, Khara Smith became the fourth player in school history with 1,000 career rebounds. She joins Diana Vines, Mfon Udoka (pronounced Oom-fon U-dough-kuh) and Debra Robinson in the DePaul record books. Following the game at Northwestern, she has 1,123 career boards and joins Vines as one of two players in school history with at least 1,800 points and 1,100 rebounds. At UW-Milwaukee, she passed Udoka and moved into second all-time. Vines holds the record with 1,296 rebounds.
Against Saint Francis, the senior scored 21 points and became just the third player in school history with at least 1,800 career points. Following the 18-point, 17-rebound effort at Northwestern, she is ranked third all-time with 1,853 career points. She needs 194 points to surpass Lenae Williams for second all-time. Williams totaled 2,046 points in her four-year career. Vines holds the career scoring mark with 2,504 points.
With 147 points, Smith will be the fourth male or female player in DePaul history with 2,000 career points - joining Vines, Williams and Mark Aguirre. Aguirre finished his career with 2,182 points.
Program-Best Ranking: DePaul’s No. 11 slot three weeks ago in the Associated Press top 25 is the highest ranking in program history for the writer’s poll. It surpassed the previous best of No. 12 set in Feb. 2004 and matches the top ranking for the program in the ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ poll.
The Blue Demons started the season in No. 18 in the preseason poll before moving up to 17th the week of Nov. 21. Following the Rainbow Wahine Classic title, the team jumped three spots to No. 14 before moving up three slots again to No. 11 following a 91-79 win at UW-Milwaukee and a 65-54 victory over No. 22/23 Purdue. The 79-77 overtime loss at USF pushed the Blue Demons down to No. 16.
Khara Smith Named a Candidate for Senior CLASS Award: DePaul senior forward Khara Smith was one of 30 student-athletes nominated for the 2005-06 Bayer Advantage Senior CLASS Award. The award, now in its fifth year, is presented annually to the nation’s senior player-of-the-year for men’s and women’s basketball.
An acronym for “Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School,” the award was initiated by sportscaster Dick Enberg and launched during the 2001-02 season. A list of 10 finalists will be named in February and be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide voting process during the NCAA Tournament. Enberg will announce the winners at the men’s Final Four in April.
The BIG EAST leads all conferences with six nominees. Joining Smith on the list from the BIG EAST are Megan Duffy of Notre Dame, Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers, Connecticut’s Ann Strother and Barbara Turner, and Liad Suez-Karni from Villanova. A year ago, Khara’s cousin, Charlene Smith, was a nominee for the same award.
Busy, Busy: DePaul’s six victories in the month of November is a program-best surpassing the five-win month a year ago. The six total games also sets a monthly high matching the six games played by the 2001-02 squad. In that season, the Blue Demons posted a 4-2 record in November.
Three times in program history a team has started the season with seven straight wins. The previous two 7-0 squads improved to 8-0 in their eighth games of the season. The 1085-86 squad started at 9-0 before their first loss while the 2003-04 team started the season at 8-0.
Three-Fifty: Head coach Doug Bruno earned his 350th coaching victory at DePaul in the win over UNLV on Nov. 19. In his 20th season with the Blue Demons, he holds a record of 360-211 (.630). In 22 seasons of coaching women’s basketball, he has a 400-241 record.
New Faces, New Places: DePaul begins play in the BIG EAST Conference this season. Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida join the Blue Demons from Conference USA to form the largest conference in NCAA Division I with 16 programs. The 2005-06 BIG EAST line-up includes Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, South Florida, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia.
DePaul enters the season with an 85-55 all-time record against the 2005-06 group of BIG EAST members. Of the 140 games against BIG EAST opponents, the Blue Demons have played Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame and USF a total of 130 times. The program is a combined 5-5 all-time against Connecticut, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova and West Virginia. DePaul plays Rutgers, St. John’s and Syracuse for the first time this season.
The Blue Demons dropped their BIG EAST opener on Dec. 7 with a 79-77 overtime loss at USF. DePaul returns to league action on Jan. 3 against Pittsburgh at the DePaul Athletic Center.
BIG EAST Beast: The new-look lineup of BIG EAST programs is off to a strong start as the schools hold a combined 115-35 (.765) in non-conference games and hold four of the top 13 spots in each of the national polls. League schools have played against 28 different conferences and remain undefeated against 13 of them. Joining the Blue Demons in the nation’s top 13 in the Dec. 26 Associated Press poll are No. 8 Connecticut, No. 9 Rutgers and No. 12 Notre Dame. In the most recent ESPN/USA Today/WBCA Coaches’ Top 25, Connecticut is No. 8 followed by Rutgers at No. 9. Notre Dame is ranked 11th in the Coaches’ poll with the Blue Demons at 13th in each top 25.
Conference History: The BIG EAST Conference is the fourth conference for DePaul’s women’s basketball program. The Blue Demons were members of the North Star Conference from 1983-91, the Great Midwest Conference from 1991-95 and Conference USA from 1995-2005.
Home Cookin’: In five-plus seasons, the DePaul Athletic Center has proven itself as one of the toughest venues in the nation. The Blue Demons have posted a 66-8 record in the arena’s first 74 games. In their 32nd season, the Blue Demons have an all-time home court record of 310-88 (.779). 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-plus seasons of women’s basketball at DePaul University there have been 13 streaks of at least 10 straight home victories. The longest streak is the current 29-game run that started on Dec. 19, 2003 with a 99-63 win over Alabama State. The victory over Houston on Feb. 11 broke the former record of 20 games from Feb. 4, 1978-Feb. 19, 1979.
Over the last three-plus years, the team is 46-1 at home with the lone loss coming in overtime to then-No. 2 Tennessee on Dec. 17, 2003. Maybe more impressive is that the Blue Demons average margin of victory during the run is 26.8 points per game.
The current 29-game winning streak is just the fourth home streak in school history of at least 15 games and is second in the nation among current home-floor winning streaks behind Western Illinois’ 43-game home winning streak.
The Blue Demons have also posted 44 straight home victories over unranked opponents. During the 44-game streak over unranked opponents, there have been 40 victories at the DePaul Athletic Center and two wins at the Allstate Arena. Tulane handed DePaul their last home loss to an unranked team on Mar. 2, 2002, with a 88-83 decision in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament.
BIG EAST Preseason Picks: The league’s 16 coaches slated the Blue Demons at No. 4 in the BIG EAST preseason poll. Rutgers was selected as the favorite with 11 first-place votes followed by Connecticut and Notre Dame. Senior forward Khara Smith was one of 12 players named to the league’s All-BIG EAST preseason team. Rutgers’ Cappie Pondexter was named the Preseason Player of the Year.
National Preseason Picks: The DePaul women’s basketball team is picked among the nation’s top 25 and senior forward Khara Smith has been named a preseason All-American in various preseason publications.
Smith was named a first team All-American by the cbssportsline.com College Basketball Preview and a second-teamer by Lindy’s. She also picked up High Honorable Mention honors in Street and Smith’s.
She is joined on the cbssportsline.com first team by Seimone Augustus of LSU, Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers, Sophia Young of Baylor and Ohio State’s Jessica Davenport.
The Blue Demons are ranked 11th in the preseason top 25 by cbssportsline.com and 20th in Street and Smith’s.
ESPN.com Notice: In the women’s basketball preview on ESPN.com, the DePaul program was cited on a number of occasions. Khara Smith was slotted as the nation’s top rebounder by three of the four ESPN.com women’s basketball experts and the DePaul-Connecticut game was selected as one of the top 10 games to watch this season. The Blue Demons and Huskies tangle at the DePaul Athletic Center on Jan. 28. Smith was also named one of the top five forwards in the country joining Baylor’s Sophia Young, Candice Dupree of Temple, Tiffany Jackson of Texas and Michigan State’s Liz Shimek.
Family Time: Siblings and teammates Erin and Rachael Carney are just one of 16 sets of sisters playing on the same NCAA Division I team this season. The only other BIG EAST sister duo is in Cincinnati where Anne and Jill Stephens play for the Bearcats. Among the 16 sets of sisters playing on the same team, there are five sets of twins. Fairleigh Dickinson and Liberty go one step further as each features a set of triplets.
Streaking: Dating back to last season and in some cases, the last couple of seasons, the Blue Demons have put together various streaks. Listed below are some current active streaks heading into the Missouri State game on Wednesday:
- 29 consecutive wins at home
- 44 straight victories at home against unranked opponents
- 21 consecutive home wins against conference programs
- 16 straight wins against opponents from Illinois and 30 of the last 31
- six consecutive regular-season tournament championships
Taking Advantage From Beyond the Arc: Since the start of the 2001-02 season, the club has knocked down 984 trifectas compared to just 494 for the opposition. Over the last six years, the team has totaled at least 200 three-pointers in each season. With a 0-for-8 showing against Houston on Feb. 11, 2005, DePaul’s streak of games with a three-pointer ended at 259 games. At the time, it was the nation’s seventh-longest active streak.
In 13 games this season, the Blue Demons have outscored their opponents by 99 points from three-point range (7.6 ppg). DePaul is 79-255 (.310) from behind the arc while opponents are a combined 46-169 (.272). The squad averages 6.1 three’s per game while the opposition makes 3.5 treys per contest.
At the Rainbow Wahine Classic, the Blue Demons used the experimental three-point distance of 20’6”. The team posted a combined .306 percentage from behind the extended arc on 15-of-49 shooting in the three games.
Giving to Charity: Over the last five seasons, DePaul finished either first or second in the league rankings in free throw percentage. A year ago, the Blue Demons were first with a .735 percentage from the line preceded by a second-place finish in 2003-04 with a .724 team mark. The squad finished the 2002-03 campaign ranked second with a .718 season percentage and claimed the top spot in 2001-02 with a .738 percentage.
Over the first eight games, the Blue Demons were off to a slow start at the line with a team percentage of .641 (84-131). In the last five games, the team has combined to go 89-for-113 (.788) from the line. In three straight games against UW-Green Bay, Northern Illinois and Saint Francis, the team combined to go 47-of-53 (.887) from the line. Overall, the Blue Demons are 173-of-244 (.709) from the line.
TV Time: As always, the DePaul women’s basketball program will be featured multiple times on national television. The Blue Demons are scheduled to make a minimum of six appearances this season. DePaul plays twice on the ESPN network in BIG EAST games against Louisville on Jan. 25 and Notre Dame on Feb. 12. The Blue Demons are also scheduled for a pair of games televised by CSTV against Pittsburgh on Jan. 3 and at Notre Dame on Jan. 17.
The BIG EAST TV Network comes to the DePaul Athletic Center on Jan. 14 for the Villanova game. ComcastSportsNet Chicago is scheduled to pick up that game in the Chicagoland area. The BIG EAST Tournament features the quarterfinals on CSTV, semifinals on ESPNU and the championship game on ESPN2.
DePaul is no stranger to the cameras as 25 games in the last three seasons have been televised.
Against the State: DePaul has seen recent success against opponents from the state of Illinois. Over the last 31 games against Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Northwestern and Southern Illinois, the Blue Demons have posted 30 victories. In 2004-05 against Northwestern, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois, the club was a perfect 5-0. This season, the Blue Demons topped Northern Illinois, Loyola-Chicago and Northwestern.
DePaul has won 34 of the last 36 games against state opponents and currently hold a 15-game winning streak against Illinois schools.
Rainbow Recap: DePaul topped Eastern Michigan, Texas A&M and Wisconsin en route to the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic. Khara Smith picked up MVP honors with three double-doubles and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Allie Quigley and Jenna Rubino.
DePaul knocked off Eastern Michigan, 64-49, behind 21 points from Quigley and a 12-point, 11-rebound game from Smith. The Blue Demons used a 17-5 run in the second half to pull away after leading, 24-19, at halftime.
The Blue Demons advanced to the championship game with an 84-71 decision against Texas A&M. Four players reached double-figures led by Rubino’s 18 points. DePaul led by as many as 19 points in the second half with Smith pulling down 14 rebounds to go with 16 points.
In the championship game, the Blue Demons opened the second half with a 15-1 run to increase a 35-32 halftime lead to a 76-57 victory. Smith turned in her third double-double in as many days with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Rubino added 17 and Quigley scored 14 points.
DePaul Invitational Review: The Blue Demons started the season with two wins and the first-place DePaul Invitational plaque. DePaul knocked off Harvard and UNLV while Jenna Rubino was named the tourney’s MVP. She was joined on the All-Tournament team by Allie Quigley and Khara Smith.
The Blue Demons started quickly against Harvard and never looked back in a 97-52 victory. Rubino led the way with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field as the Blue Demons scored the first 16 points of the game and opened the contest with a 25-2 run. When the dust settled, the Blue Demons won by a score of 97-52 with no player seeing more than 19 minutes of action.
DePaul won the title with an 88-72 decision against UNLV. Smith tallied her first double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds while Quigley dropped in a team-high 21 points against the Lady Rebels. Rubino added 17 points, five rebounds as the Blue Demons outscored UNLV, 54-37, in the second half after trailing by a score of 35-34 at halftime.
Season-Opening Notes: In the 32nd season of women’s basketball at DePaul University, the Blue Demons are 24-8 all-time in the first game. This season, they cruised by Harvard, 97-52, in the first game of the DePaul Invitational at the DePaul Athletic Center. The 45-point margin of victory was the second-highest season-opening advantage in school history. In DePaul’s first game in 1974, the Blue Demons posted a 62-17 win over Mundelein. Head coach Doug Bruno is 15-5 in the season-opener at DePaul. The Blue Demons have won five straight first games after dropping three in-a-row from 1998-00.
Smith Named to Wooden and Wade Lists: Khara Smith was named to both the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award preseason lists for National Player of the Year honors. In each of the last two seasons, she has been one of 16 finalists for the Wooden Award.
The State Farm Wade Trophy preseason list is made up of 25 student-athletes that are selected by a national awards committee of leading basketball coaches, journalists and basketball administrators. The selections are based on the criteria of game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability.
The State Farm Wade Trophy, now in its 29th year and named after the late, legendary three-time national champion Delta State University coach, Lily Margaret Wade, debuted in 1978 as the first women’s national player of the year award in college basketball. This most prestigious award, regarded as “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball”, is organized by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), in conjunction with the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS).
Smith is one of three players on this season’s preseason Wooden Award list that is a two-time finalist. Joining Smith on the short list is LSU’s Seimone Augustus and Cappie Pondexter of Rutgers.
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his/her university the he/she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 grade point average. Previous winners include such notables as Michael Jordan (’84), Larry Bird (’79), Tim Duncan (’97) and last year’s recipient, Seimone Augustus (’05).
These Top 30 candidates (all returning players) were selected by a national poll conducted by the National Advisory Board. Transfers and freshmen as well as other players who excel throughout the season will be evaluated and considered for the Wooden Award Midseason Top 20 List and the final national ballot.
March Madness in Chicago: DePaul University and the Allstate Arena are one of eight hosts for the First and Second Rounds of the 2006 NCAA Women’s Championship. The Chicago site is schedule for first round games on Saturday, March 18 followed by a pair of second round games on Monday, March 20.
The Allstate Arena was the site of the Men’s Chicago Regional last season that saw Illinois advance to the Final Four with wins over UW-Milwaukee and Arizona. The facility also served host to the 1996 Women’s Sweet Sixteen.
DePaul holds a 20-4 all-time record at the Allstate Arena and have won their last eight games there including a 102-57 win over Southern Illinois in December 2003. The DePaul men’s program plays their entire home schedule at the arena located in Rosemont, Ill.
Looking Forward: DePaul signed four players to a National Letter of Intent in November. Felicia Chester, China Threatt, Kayla Guidry and Samantha Quigley join the program next fall as freshmen and hail from Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri.
Chester, nationally ranked among the top players at her position, averaged 12.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 3.0 blocks per game as a junior. She picked up second team All-State honors after leading Incarnate Word Academy to the state finals. The Red Knights finished third in the state with a 28-3 record. The 6’2” forward enters her senior season as the school’s all-time shot blocker and picked up second team All-Metro honors from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a junior. The All Star Girls Report ranks the forward at No. 107 in the country and the 25th-ranked player at her position.
Guidry averaged 15 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game as a junior for the Peabody Warhorses. The 5’8” guard earned first team All-District honors and was named the Rapides Parrish Most Valuable Player. She also was named the KLAX Athlete of the Week and played on Junior Olympic state and national teams.
The second Quigley in three years to sign a National Letter of Intent at DePaul, Samantha joins her sister, Allie, next season in Lincoln Park. A three-sport standout in volleyball, basketball and softball, she averaged 16.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.0 steals as a junior at Joliet Catholic Academy. Quigley earned third team All-State honors from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and first team All-Area honors from the Joliet Herald-News. Entering her senior season, she holds career averages of 15.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
Threatt (pronounced Threett) finished third in the voting for Michigan Miss Basketball. She is the third Michigan product to join the program in the last three seasons with the Carney sisters, Rachael and Erin, playing currently at DePaul. Prior to an injury this season, the versatile 5’8” guard was averaging 15.0 points per game. Ranked as the state’s No. 6 player by the Detroit Free Press, she led Auburn Hills Avondale to the No. 1 ranking in the state.