DePaul University
Hampton
DePaul Tops Hampton 86-67 Behind Jenkins' Near Triple-Double
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
CHICAGO - These Blue Demons took the McGrath-Phillips Arena floor on Monday night intent on heading into Christmas on an upbeat note.
That's exactly what happened as DePaul ran past Hampton 86-67 in a nonconference game that lifted the Blue Demon record to 8-4.
Chanise Jenkins had quite a night, scoring a season-high 19 points while adding a career-high 12 rebounds along with eight assists. She was two helpers away from DePaul's first triple-double since Diana Vines accomplished the feat in 1989.
Brittany Hrynko came through with 19 points, six assists and five rebounds. Megan Podkowa contributed 13 points and eight boards while Megan Rogowski added 12 points.
Malia Tate-DeFreitas led the Lady Pirates with 22 points.
"One of our coaches told me how close I was to a triple-double," Jenkins said. "That just shows you how good our team is because everybody else has to be playing well for me to come that close.
"As a point guard, a triple-double is the ultimate. Yes, I want to score points. But I focus more on assists, rebounds and steals. I try for a triple-double every game."
After a first half that saw Hampton (3-8) whittle the DePaul lead to one point before trailing 40-35 at halftime, the Blue Demons opened the second half with an 8-0 burst for a 48-35 lead.
The Lady Pirates came within seven when a DePaul spurt led by Jenkins restored a 58-48 lead with less than 12 minutes to go.
Sparked by Jenkins and Hrynko, the Blue Demons went on one of their patented runs, outscoring Hampton 17-4 in building an 81-61 lead.
"Everyone did a nice job out there," said DePaul coach Doug Bruno. "Chanise is really a special player. I just tried to keep her energized the whole game.
"Our players all did a good job dealing with the niceness of the holiday season and then assuming the mentality of a junkyard dog when they played a game."
The Blue Demons opened the game with an 18-5 run as Jenkins, Podkowa, Rogowski and Centrese McGee all buried three-pointers.
"The key to my game tonight is that I kept playing hard the whole time," Jenkins said. "Coach Bruno was the one that kept pushing me.
"There aren't many coaches in the country that genuinely care about you like he does. What you learn from him gives you a big lift in life."
DePaul had established a 21-10 advantage when a Hampton run cut the lead to 24-19 in the middle of the first half. Rogowski's jumper made it 26-19. A 5-2 Pirate burst brought the visiting team to within 28-24 with less than six minutes to halftime.
Hampton closed to 29-28 when the Blue Demons went on a 9-2 burst in building a 38-30 lead. Hrynko had five points in that span. Hampton continued to hang around as DePaul led 40-35 heading into halftime.
The Blue Demons return to action on Sunday with a nonconference game tipping off at 2 p.m. at Illinois State in Normal, Ill.
NOTES: Jenkins had eight assists on Monday night and had 10 helpers in two of the previous three games... the Blue Demons shot 47.2 percent from the floor but hit 10-of-25 from three-point land for a 40 percent clip... Jenkins was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc... DePaul won the battle of the boards 47-43... the Blue Demon defense limited Hampton to 36.1 percent shooting from the floor including 17.6 percent from three-point range.
