DePaul University Athletics
DePaul University
Northwestern
Quigley Leads No. 22 DePaul Past Northwestern
12/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Dec. 13, 2010
Bluetube: Highlights | Postgame Interview
DePaul 76, Northwestern 72 
Postgame Notes
CHICAGO - Senior Sam Quigley scored a season-high 23 points and pushed the No. 22 DePaul women's basketball team past Northwestern, 76-72 on Monday at McGrath Arena. The Blue Demons have won their last nine games and improve to 12-1 on season, while Northwestern falls to 8-2.
Quigley, who was 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point line, led a trio of Blue Demons in double-figures as Keisha Hampton finished with 11 and Anna Martin tallied 10 in the win.
The Blue Demons and Northwestern ran up and down the floor from opening second. Neither team allowed an uncontested basket and tenacious defense highlighted the early goings. The score was knotted four times and neither team enjoyed an advantage of more than five points in the opening nine minutes of action.
Tied at 19, China Threatt provided DePaul with some instant offense when she entered the game with 10:50 left in first half. The senior pick-pocketed NU's Allison Mocchi, made 1-of-2 free throws, was on the receiving end of a transition layup and drained a 3-pointer all within 70 seconds. When the dust settled, the Blue Demons had a 25-19 advantage.
DePaul continued its run and took a 29-19 lead when Felicia Chester and Martin combined for a steal and layup with 7:30 to play in the opening stanza.
NU whittled DePaul's lead to 29-24, but the Blue Demons answered with a 5-0 run to extend it advantage back to 10 on Quigley's second 3-pointer with 5:07 remaining in the half.
Northwestern stayed close by hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the closing minutes of the half which squeezed DePaul's lead to 34-31. However as time expired, Taylor Pikes grabbed an offensive board and laid it back in to give an ecstatic and energized Blue Demon bench a 36-31 lead at the break.
Quigley started the second half with a 3-pointer and Hampton followed with a jumper to put the Blue Demons back up by double-figures and force Northwestern to use a timeout 71 seconds into the stanza.
DePaul kept its 10-point lead for most of the second half and took a 71-58 advantage on three from Deanna Ortiz with 7:09 to play.
Over the next 2:21, the Blue Demons found themselves stuck on 71 and the Wildcats hit a 3-pointer and made four straight at the free throw line to pull within six, 71-65.
A fearless Quigley, drained a 3-pointer from the fair side as time expired on the 24-second clock which ended DePaul's scoreless drought and gave the Blue Demons some breathing room with 4:48 to play.
The pesky Wildcats kept coming at DePaul, but some huge rebounds by Chester and Martin in the final minute made the difference.
Pikes led DePaul with nine rebounds, while Katherine Harry and Chester each finished with six boards.
Kendall Hackney led Northwestern with 21 points and 12 rebounds while Brittany Orban added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
DePaul, who entered the game ranked fourth in the nation with 20.7 assists per game, combined for 22 assists with Hampton dishing out career-best six assists. Pikes followed with five and Quigley finished with four.
The Blue Demons return to action on Thursday when they host No. 3/2 Stanford. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. at McGrath Arena and can be seen live in Chicagoland on Lakeshore Public Television.
Notes: DePaul has scored 70 or more points in 10 of its 12 wins this season... DePaul is 10-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points… DePaul has won its last nine games... longest winning streak since DePaul won 10 in a row from Nov. 10 - Dec. 27, 2007... during its current eight game winning streak, the Blue Demons have outscored their opponents by an average of 25.2 points... DePaul is averaging 82.4 points per game while holding its opponent to 57.2 points… DePaul improves to 7-0 this season at home... has won its last nine games at home which dates back to a Feb. 23, 2010 win over Pittsburgh… won its last 61 games against unranked opponents at home…. won its last nine over Division I programs from the state of Illinois... this season DePaul has topped UIC, Illinois State, SIU Edwardsville, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Illinois and Northwestern… Sam Quigley tallied a season-high 23 points... tied a career-high with five 3-pointers... reached the 20 point mark for the eighth time in her career… Deanna Ortiz had three, 3-pointers... 21 of her 27 field goals this season have been 3-pointers… DePaul tied a season-high with 12, 3-pointers... the Blue Demons also had 12 against UC Riverside… season-low nine turnover... previous low was 11 which they did against Loyola-Chicago and UIC... the last time DePaul turned the ball over nine or fewer times was at Cincinnati on Mar. 9, 2009 or 49 games ago… Northwestern's 72 points is the most by a DePaul opponent since Illinois State scored 83 on Dec. 1… NU outscored DePaul 41-40 in the second half… NU shot .434 (23-for-53) for the game and held DePaul to .417 (30-for-72)… Kendall Hackney (12) and Brittany Orban (10) both finished with double-digit rebounds... marks the first time in 38 games, DePaul has allowed two players to finish with double figure rebounds... NU was the last team to do so on Nov. 24, 2009... the pair also finished with double-doubles -- (Hackney 23 points/12 rebounds & Orban 11 points/10 rebounds) which marks the first time since the 2006-07 season that two opposing players did so… the DePaul/Northwestern series is now knotted at 14 games apiece... DePaul is now 5-0 in series games played at McGrath Arena and 8-4 in games played in Lincoln Park… DePaul is now 36-51 against school's from the Big Ten Conference.
