DePaul University Athletics
DePaul Bounces Back Big Against Illinois-Chicago
11/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Nov. 23, 2010
CHICAGO - It was certainly a bounce-back kind of a night for DePaul Tuesday, especially for Anna Martin and Katherine Harry.
After struggling in the first half, Martin and Harry led a second-half charge that sent the Blue Demons onto an 87-66 triumph over Illinois-Chicago at the UIC Pavilion.
It put DePaul (4-1) back on the winning track after the Blue Demons fell to Purdue on Sunday in the championship game of the Preseason Women's NIT tournament.
The 6-foot, 3-inch Harry had two points going into the halftime locker room. Fellow sophomore Martin had six points, but coach Doug Bruno wasn't pleased with her decision-making.
Deciding to go inside in the second half was a no-brainer, and Harry responded with four consecutive layups during a 7 minute, 44-stretch that saw DePaul outscore the Flames 29-10.
Keisha Hampton also had eight points during the decisive run that saw a 44-39 Blue Demon lead mushroom into a 73-49 advantage with 6:56 showing on the clock.
"It was great to see Katherine get her rhythm back," Bruno said. "She played the second half like we expected. Everyone did a much better job in the second half of exploiting our size advantage."
Hampton led the way again with 21 points and seven rebounds while Martin delivered 15 points and seven assists.
"I'm proud of the way Anna Martin bounced back," Bruno said. "I wasn't happy with her decision-making on Sunday, and some of that carried over into the first half tonight.
"Anna is a very talented scorer, but she's got to know when to take shots. I don't want to take the aggressiveness away from talents like Anna and Keisha.
"But in the second half, Anna did a much better job of picking her spots."
Felicia Chester also turned in a strong performance with 13 points and eight rebounds to give the Blue Demons four scorers in double figures. Right behind that foursome were Sam Quigley and Taylor Pikes with nine points apiece.
DePaul shot 57.1 percent from the floor and held UIC (2-2) to just 36.7 percent. The Blue Demons hit 50 percent of their three-point attempts with Hampton, Chester and Deanna Ortiz combining to hit six of seven.
"I was really thrilled by the energy and the way our players executed during a difficult stretch," Bruno said. "This was our fifth game in 12 days that included competing in the Preseason Women's NIT tournament.
"And on top of all that, we're in finals week. A bunch of our players have one last final exam on Wednesday.
"It's very hard emotionally to bounce back so quickly after that loss to Purdue two days ago. That's why this is a great team."
The Blue Demons can focus solely on basketball this weekend when they host the Maggie Dixon Classic. They will open against Northwestern State in a 7 p.m. game Friday at McGrath Arena.
