DePaul University Athletics
Second Half Propels Blue Demons Past Green Bay
12/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO After trailing for most of the second half, the DePaul women’s basketball team relied on its three ball and free throws in the final two minutes and pulled off a 76-68, come from behind victory over Green Bay, Monday at McGrath Arena. The Blue Demons recorded their 100th victory at McGrath Arena and improve 12-2, while Green Bay falls to 8-3 on the season.
Tied at 62 with 1:55 left, Sam Quigley drained her fourth 3-pointer of game to give DePaul its go ahead basket. Deirdre Naughton found an open Quigley in the corner and the Blue Demons never looked back.
Naughton followed with a three of her own, 33 seconds later and gave DePaul some breathing room. Natasha Williams, Naughton and Quigley iced the victory by hitting their last eight free throw attempts in the final 53 seconds of action. The Blue Demons finished the contest 17-for-23 at the charity stripe.
Williams led a trio of Blue Demons in double-figures. The senior forward recorded her second consecutive double-double with 24 points and a career-high 14 boards in 38 minutes of action. Naughton scored 21 and Quigley followed with 16.
The Blue Demons came out aggressive as they forced three early turnovers and jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first five minutes of play. Hampton scored the game’s first bucket, a three with just 21 ticks off the clock. Following Hampton’s early points, Williams and Naughton provided the Blue Demons with their next five points for an early six point advantage.
Over the next 10 minutes the Blue Demons went cold from the field as the Phoenix battled and tied the game at 20 on Lavesa Glover’s first free throw and took a 21-20 lead on her second.
Green Bay extended its lead to 25-20 with 4:08 left in the half before DePaul buckled downed defensively and went to work on the offensive boards as it tied the game at 27 and again at 29. With 1:08 left in the half Green Bay’s Kati Harty scored five unanswered points to send the Phoenix to the locker room with a 34-29 advantage.
The Blue Demons were just 11-for-30 in the first half, while Green Bay was 11-for-21. Harty led all players with 12 first half points and finished with a career-high 19 points.
Green Bay extended its lead to 43-33 in the opening minutes of the second half. Trailing by 10, DePaul responded with an 11-2 run as Williams converted a pair of three-point-plays and Deanna Ortiz drained two key threes to cut the Phoenix lead to 45-44 with 13:14 remaining in the game.
Felecia Chester tied the game at 50 by hitting a pair of free throw before Quigley gave the Blue Demons their first lead of the half when she knocked down a three with 7:24 remaining. The two teams continued to trade points until Quigley’s drained her second 3-pointer of the half with just under two minutes to play.
Rachel Porath and Glover joined Harty in double-figures for Green Bay. Glover tallied 15 points while Porath registered 11.
The Blue Demons begin BIG EAST Conference play on the road and travel to No. 10/13 Louisville for a 1 p.m. (CST) game on Saturday, Jan. 3.
Notes: DePaul recorded its 100th win in McGrath Arena, their 7-0 on the season and since 2000 (when McGrath Arena opened) DePaul is 100-17... all-time at home the Blue Demons are 364-101... DePaul has won its last seven games, its first seven-game winning streak of the season... DePaul registered its first win when trailing with 5:00 minutes to play... DePaul’s 3-point streak moved to 120 games... Coach Doug Bruno has won 426 games as DePaul’s head coach... DePaul is now 3-1 when three players score double-digits... DePaul has held 11 of their 14 opponents this season to less than 70 points... Since the 2003-04 season the Blue Demons are 96-14, when holding opponents to under 70 points... DePaul now leads the overall series with Green Bay 11-5.
