No. 18/20 DePaul Falls to No. 7/6 Oregon State 98-77

Thursday, November 14

Corvallis, Ore.

9:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

2-1,0-0Big East

Oregon State

3-0,0-0Pac-12

DePaul

Oregon St.

No. 18/20 DePaul Falls to No. 7/6 Oregon State 98-77

11/15/2019 12:43:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Box Score Box Score

Cold-Shooting Thursday Night for Blue Demons in Preseason WNIT Semifinals

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Stepping up to the elite class of NCAA women's basketball Thursday night, No. 18/20 DePaul had one of those games where the shots weren't falling during a showdown of nationally ranked teams that had the feel of an NCAA Sweet 16 game in the heart of March Madness.

An extremely rare cold streak from three-point range combined with an unfortunate stretch in the second quarter victimized the Blue Demons in a 98-77 loss to No. 7/6 Oregon State in the semifinals of the Preseason WNIT.

There were some bright spots in Gill Coliseum with the shiniest being Sonya Morris' career night of 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Chante Stonewall battled through foul trouble that saddled DePaul's leading light with three fouls midway through the second quarter. She still finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Deja Church was on the court for more than 34 minutes after encountering foul problems her first two games and showed a glimpse of the big games to come with 13 points. Lexi Held and Dee Bekelja each scored eight and Kelly Campbell contributed 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals while the 5-foot, 10-inch guard did her best defending and rebounding against 6-4 Taylor Jones, 6-6 Kennedy Brown and 6-7 Patricia Morris.

DePaul (2-1) jumped out to a quick, early lead right after the tip with Stonewall, Morris and Held doing the offensive honors. The Blue Demons matched Oregon State play for play and shot for shot in the early going.

Bekelja knocked down a three-pointer to tie it 14-14. Church and Campbell (three-pointer) converted for a 19-17 lead. The Beavers scored the final four points of the first quarter to take a 21-19 lead into the second quarter.

Held made an acrobatic layup to tie it at 27-27 with six minutes left in the second quarter. That's when it all fell apart as Oregon State (3-0) went on a 14-0 run over the next three minutes and did not allow the visiting team any closer than 13. The Blue Demons trailed 46-31 at the break.

Digging out of that 15-point deficit was not going to be easy with the Gill Coliseum partisan crowd roaring at every Beaver basket.

It would have to start with connecting on a higher percentage of outside shots against the tall Oregon State front line.

Morris came out and continued her hot shooting but coach Doug Bruno's team had difficulty cutting into the Oregon State lead. It was still a 15-point deficit 59-44 at the media timeout.

Stonewall found her shot midway through the third quarter but Oregon State continued to match basket for basket. The way the game was going, it figured Aleah Goodman would hit a buzzer-beating three just past midcourt for a73-54 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

An 8-2 Beaver burst at the outset of the fourth quarter made it 81-56. Morris maintained her offensive pace and had 25 points midway through the quarter.

DePaul wound up making 36.1 percent of their shots from the field and just 6-of-34 from three-point range.

Meanwhile, the Beavers had six players in double figures led by the 6-4 Jones with 24 points and nine rebounds.

The Blue Demons will have time to recover and get back to "DePaulBall" as their next game is Nov. 22 in the Maggie Dixon Classic against Arkansas State that will also celebrate the program's annual Field Trip Day event.

Postgame Notes

Morris had career highs in points (29), field goals (10), field goal attempts (18), free throws (5-of-6), three-point attempts (4-for-8) and minutes (35).
Church posted DePaul career highs in points (13), assists (four), field goals (4), field goal attempts (17) and minutes (34).
DePaul did force 20 turnovers while committing only six but was outrebounded 56-34.
Stonewall has 58 points, 25 rebounds and 11 steals in her first three games.
The Blue Demons need 10 more wins to reach 900 in program history.
Campbell needs 126 points to reach the 1,000-point career milestone.
Campbell passed Sam Quigley for No. 5 in career assists with 489. Jessica January is fourth with 554.
Campbell is No. 10 all-time in career rebounds with 737 and Felicia Chester is ninth with 751.
Bruno needs four more victories to become only the third active women's basketball coach to reach the 700-win plateau at one school, joining Connecticut's Geno Auriemma and Villanova's Harry Perretta.
Stonewall is No. 34 all-time in career scoring with 1,105 points passing Katherine Harry (1,100) with No. 33 Felicia Chester (1,129) in her sights.