Morrow Lights Up Wintrust Arena on Allie Quigley Night

Tuesday, November 9

Chicago, Ill.

7:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

1-0,0-0Big East

114

Texas Southern

0-1,0-0SWAC

Texas Southern

DePaul

114

Morrow Lights Up Wintrust Arena on Allie Quigley Night

11/9/2021 10:25:00 PM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

First player in coach Doug Bruno's 36 years to score 31 points in freshman debut

CHICAGO – It was a night to remember for DePaul women's basketball, Allie Quigley and the passionate fan bases pledging their allegiance to both the Blue Demons and the Chicago Sky.

Coach Doug Bruno and his team certainly did their part contributing to Tuesday night's festive atmosphere by racing past Texas Southern 114-71 in the season opener.

Bursting upon the NCAA basketball scene with an eye-popping performance, Aneesah Morrow became the first player in coach Doug Bruno's 36-year career to score 31 points in her freshman debut.

First off, unless your name is Paige Bueckers (Connecticut's freshman National Player of the Year in 2020-21) or Lisa Leslie, rookies rarely see much playing time early in their careers.

Morrow is no ordinary freshman. As Bruno pointed out in the postgame press conference, the first-year player from Simeon scored down low, off rebounds and receiving timely passes while cutting to the basket. She isn't just a gunner. Morrow also contributed nine rebounds and four steals.

Deja Church backed Morrow up with 21 points and five assists while Dee Bekelja added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. Darrione Rogers scored 11 points.

Morrow (13-of-16), Church (8-of-9) and Bekelja (7-of-9) combined to shoot 28-of-34 from the field for a blazing 82.4 percent. As a team, DePaul shot 67.6 percent which broke the women's basketball school record for single-game percentage.

The Wintrust Arena crowd was already in a celebratory mood following a moving pregame tribute to former DePaul great Allie Quigley after the school's No. 3 all-time scorer helped lead the Sky to its first WNBA title.

Right from the opening tip, these Blue Demons were in high gear. They scored 14 in a row after Texas Southern converted the first basket. A Church layup made it 20-4.

The Tigers from the Lone Star State began heating up from three-point range and came within 10 before Bruno's team closed out the first quarter on an 11-4 run for a 35-18 lead.

At that point, the highly entertaining home team was on pace for 140 points.

There was no letup at the outset of the second quarter as Morrow nailed a three-pointer and scored on a wicked Rogers pass around aLexi Held basket for a 42-18 advantage at the media timeout.

You could see Morrow's scoring explosiveness. Early in the second quarter, the highly touted freshman already had 17 points along with six rebounds.

It only got better after that. Morrow scored nine of DePaul's final 11 points in providing a 60-27 cushion at halftime.

The former Wolverines All-Stater scored 15 points in the 10-minute second quarter and had 27 at the half along with eight rebounds and four steals. She was 12-of-14 from the field as the Blue Demons shot 68.4 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Rogers had 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep, and we do mean deep. Two of those shots from behind the arc were well beyond NBA range. Church had 10 points and Held contributed six points and five assists.

Opening the third quarter with a Church three-point play, the Blue Demons went on a 9-2 burst for a 69-31 lead. Church, Morrow and Bekelja continued sparking the high-powered attack and it was 75-40 at the media timeout.

With four-fifths of his starting lineup resting in the second part of the quarter, Bruno's team went into the fourth quarter with a 90-47 lead.

The Blue Demons are back at Wintrust Arena on Friday to face local rival Loyola.

Postgame Notes

Aneesah Morrow is the first player in Bruno's 36 years to score 31 points in her freshman debut.
The 67.6 percent shooting (46-of-68) set a new school record, eclipsing the 66.7 percent DePaul shot at Northern Illinois on Jan. 24, 1996.
The 46 field goals is the sixth-best total in program history.
DePaul's 114 points is the sixth-highest total in program history.
The 35 points in the first quarter tied for seventh-best in program history.
Morrow, Church and Bekelja combined to shoot 82.4 percent from the field.
After finishing eighth in the nation in forcing turnovers last season, the Blue Demons greeted the new season forcing 25 turnovers.
Somewhat uncharacteristically, DePaul scored 74 points in the paint.
Kayla Caudle's layup put her team over the century mark.
Former DePaul great Allie Quigley made it a night to remember with a special pregame ceremony celebrating the Chicago Sky's WNBA title. Quigley entered the court carrying the championship trophy as Sky owner Michael Alter and general manager-coach James Wade cheered from their courtside seats. Quigley made a promotional appearance at halftime signing autographs and posing for photos and conducted a postgame media session with Bruno and two Blue Demons afterwards.
Fox Sports and ABC 7 Sports sent camera crews while NBC 5 planned on airing footage of the ceremony along with game action.
Quigley and Texas Southern coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke represented five WNBA titles in the South Loop Tuesday night. Cooper-Dyke won four with the Houston Comets and is a four-time WNBA Finals MVP. She also won back-to-back NCAA tournament titles with USC.