Tuesday, December 14
Chicago, Ill.
11:00 A.M. CT
DePaul University
9-2,2-0Big East
100
vs
72
Nicholls State
2-8,0-0Southland
1
2
3
4
F
Nicholls St.
14
16
20
22
72
DePaul
23
24
31
22
100
DePaul Delights Kids in 100-72 Victory over Nicholls State
12/14/2021 2:24:00 PM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Win fifth in a row on Tuesday at Wintrust Chicago Field Trip Day
CHICAGO – On a day dedicated to the schoolchildren of a great metropolis, DePaul put on quite a show thoroughly entertaining the kids, their teachers and administrators Tuesday on Wintrust Chicago Field Trip Day.
Between the high-decibel shrieking of delighted grammar school students and the high-powered Blue Demon attack, Nicholls State didn't stand much of a chance in the 100-72 DePaul victory before a youthful crowd of 2,339.
It was the fifth win in a row for coach Doug Bruno's program, improving to 9-2 on the season. It was also the fourth time this season DePaul (9-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) has reached the century mark. The record for 100-point games in a season is six in 2014-15 and 2017-17.
Sonya Morris' 21 points headed five Blue Demons in double figures. Dee Bekelja contributed 16 points off the bench while USBWA National Freshman of the Week Aneesah Morrow finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists.
Lexi Held did a bang-up job orchestrating the offense and came through with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Darrione Rogers added 12 points and six boards.
Looking to build on a 17-point halftime lead, DePaul saw Nicholls State (2-8) open the third quarter with a three-pointer before moving in front 55-34 on Held's four-point play. A Deja Church layup followed by Morrow stealing the inbounds pass and scoring gave the Blue Demons a 59-38 advantage at the media timeout.
A nifty feed from Held to Rogers for a three-point shot followed by a Morrow foul shot made it 63-38 at the second media timeout.
A pair of Morris free throws and back-to-back Bekelja buckets gave the home team a 76-45 cushion. Morris closed out the third quarter with a double-crossover move followed by a soft jumper for a 78-50 margin heading into the final 10 minutes.
Held opened the fourth quarter with a tall, arching three-pointer and it was all DePaul from there. Two Bekelja baskets, a Morris jumper, a Kaitlyn Ammons free throw and a Rogers three pushed the margin to 93-54.
A ragged start had the home team trailing 12-11 at the first quarter media timeout. Unhappy with his starters, Bruno subbed them out with 7:47 left in the quarter and went with a lineup of Bekelja, Hannah Purcell, Kendall Holmes, Keke Rimmer and Ammons.
The starters returned with just over three minutes left and responded to the unexpected benching with eight unanswered points including a Morris three-pointer. That sparked DePaul to a 23-14 lead after one quarter.
A combination of the Blue Demon pressure and some unforced errors plagued Nicholls State with 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes. The Colonels would finish with 35---the most forced by DePaul this season.
Bruno & Co. cemented this one with a game-defining 16-0 run from the outset of the second quarter for a 39-14 advantage.
Morrow initiated the surge with three consecutive baskets down low. Morris and Morrow continued the assault to the tune of 41-18 at the media timeout.
The Colonels went on a 7-0 burst to come within 45-30 until Bekelja drove the lane for a layup and a 47-30 halftime lead.
Morris and Morrow each had 11 points at the break while Nicholls State had 20 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
The Blue Demons are right back at Wintrust Arena on Thursday renewing a rivalry with Northern Illinois that will tip at 7 p.m.
Postgame Notes
Between the high-decibel shrieking of delighted grammar school students and the high-powered Blue Demon attack, Nicholls State didn't stand much of a chance in the 100-72 DePaul victory before a youthful crowd of 2,339.
It was the fifth win in a row for coach Doug Bruno's program, improving to 9-2 on the season. It was also the fourth time this season DePaul (9-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) has reached the century mark. The record for 100-point games in a season is six in 2014-15 and 2017-17.
Sonya Morris' 21 points headed five Blue Demons in double figures. Dee Bekelja contributed 16 points off the bench while USBWA National Freshman of the Week Aneesah Morrow finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four assists.
Lexi Held did a bang-up job orchestrating the offense and came through with 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. Darrione Rogers added 12 points and six boards.
Looking to build on a 17-point halftime lead, DePaul saw Nicholls State (2-8) open the third quarter with a three-pointer before moving in front 55-34 on Held's four-point play. A Deja Church layup followed by Morrow stealing the inbounds pass and scoring gave the Blue Demons a 59-38 advantage at the media timeout.
A nifty feed from Held to Rogers for a three-point shot followed by a Morrow foul shot made it 63-38 at the second media timeout.
A pair of Morris free throws and back-to-back Bekelja buckets gave the home team a 76-45 cushion. Morris closed out the third quarter with a double-crossover move followed by a soft jumper for a 78-50 margin heading into the final 10 minutes.
Held opened the fourth quarter with a tall, arching three-pointer and it was all DePaul from there. Two Bekelja baskets, a Morris jumper, a Kaitlyn Ammons free throw and a Rogers three pushed the margin to 93-54.
A ragged start had the home team trailing 12-11 at the first quarter media timeout. Unhappy with his starters, Bruno subbed them out with 7:47 left in the quarter and went with a lineup of Bekelja, Hannah Purcell, Kendall Holmes, Keke Rimmer and Ammons.
The starters returned with just over three minutes left and responded to the unexpected benching with eight unanswered points including a Morris three-pointer. That sparked DePaul to a 23-14 lead after one quarter.
A combination of the Blue Demon pressure and some unforced errors plagued Nicholls State with 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes. The Colonels would finish with 35---the most forced by DePaul this season.
Bruno & Co. cemented this one with a game-defining 16-0 run from the outset of the second quarter for a 39-14 advantage.
Morrow initiated the surge with three consecutive baskets down low. Morris and Morrow continued the assault to the tune of 41-18 at the media timeout.
The Colonels went on a 7-0 burst to come within 45-30 until Bekelja drove the lane for a layup and a 47-30 halftime lead.
Morris and Morrow each had 11 points at the break while Nicholls State had 20 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
The Blue Demons are right back at Wintrust Arena on Thursday renewing a rivalry with Northern Illinois that will tip at 7 p.m.
Postgame Notes
- The Blue Demons have scored 398 points in their last four games---an average of 99.5 per game.
- Morrow came into the game as the nation's leading rebounder among freshman and second in points.
- Morrow has 121 points and 82 rebounds in her last six games---an average of 20.2 points, and 13.7 rebounds.
- The 6-1 freshman has five double-doubles---tied for the BIG EAST lead and has scored 20 points or more in four of 11 games placing her among the league leaders.
- After the first 11 games, DePaul leads the nation in assists per game and scoring with 988 points averaging 89.8 points a game.
- DePaul has reached the century mark four times this season. The program record is six in 2014-15 (Brittany Hrynko, Jess January, Chanise Jenkins, Megan Rogowski) and 2016-17 (January, Brooke Schulte, Jacqui Grant, Amarah Coleman).
- Morris (1,303 points) surpassed Samantha Quigley (1273) at No. 26 on the DePaul all-time scoring list. Held is No. 25 at 1,304 points. Jenna Rubino is No. 24 at 1,314.
- Dee Bekelja is No. 20 among active NCAA Division I players in career games played and tied for No. 11 all-time at DePaul with Khara Smith and Megan Podkowa.
- The Blue Demons are 3-2 against five NCAA tournament teams---beating Kentucky, Northwestern and Rutgers and falling to No. 17/15 Texas A&M and No. 7/11 Arizona.
- Held is the BIG EAST's active career scoring leader in conference games with 729 points.
- Morrow has scored in double figures 10 of the first 11 games of her collegiate career.
- Morris has finished in double figures every game except one this season.
- The Blue Demons have won the battle of the boards in nine of 11 games including over No. 7/11 Arizona. They topped Nicholls State 49-38.
- Bruno and Nicholls State coach DoBee Plaisance became close in 2008 when he was recruiting her 6-5 daughter Theresa who wound up at LSU and plays for the Washington Mystics in the WNBA.
- The Blue Demons will be delivering toys and Christmas presents to the children of the Marillac House on Wednesday morning.
Team Stats
NichSt
DePaul
FG%
.450
.440
3FG%
.308
.267
FT%
.700
.750
RB
38
49
TO
35
20
STL
10
19
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
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