Saturday, February 27
Providence, R.I.
Noon CT
DePaul University
14-6,11-4Big East
75
at
49
Providence
6-13,4-10Big East
1
2
3
4
F
DePaul
22
20
22
11
75
Providence
15
9
13
12
49
No. 24/23 DePaul Shoots Down Providence 75-49
2/27/2021 2:04:00 PM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Blue Demons go 16-of-29 from three-point range on Saturday
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Now, that's more like it.
After a brief two-game skid, No. 24/23 DePaul returned to the 'W' column on Saturday with a resounding 75-49 BIG EAST victory over Providence at Alumni Hall. The Blue Demons improved to 14-6 on the season and 11-4 in the BIG EAST.
Lexi Held led the way with 21 points, five assists and three steals. She was 5-of-7 from three-point range to tie a career high. Deja Church set a career high with four baskets from behind the arc (4-of-5) and finished with 16 points.
Darrione Rogers had her best game in a while with 13 points while Sonya Morris racked up her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds---tying a career high. Dee Bekelja filled out the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Morris hit a pair of jumpers, one a three-pointer, to ignite DePaul's 10-3 start after the opening tip. That led to Providence coach Jim Crowley calling a timeout to cool off one of the Blue Demons' patented offensive surges.
Church and Rogers maintained the momentum as Rogers buried a long jumper followed by a deep three-pointer as DePaul led 22-15 after the first quarter. The Blue Demons shot 53 percent including 4-of-8 from distance in the first 10 minutes.
Coach Doug Bruno's team greeted the second quarter with back-to-back threes from Held and Morris. Another Held score upped the run to 8-0, and a pretty Held assist on a Kiara Dallmann layup made it 32-17 at the second quarter media timeout.
Held, Church and Bekelja connected from behind the arc as the Blue Demons went into halftime with a 42-24 lead. They outscored the Friars 20-9 in the second quarter.
Held had 10 points at the break while Church, Morris and Rogers each had eight. Rogers was 3-of-4 shooting including 2-of-3 from three-point range and playing with the kind of confidence the freshman exhibited earlier in the season.
DePaul put this one away after opening the third quarter with a 16-4 run as Church buried a pair from behind the arc while Held and Bekelja had one each from deep for a 30-point lead that was 58-30 at the media timeout.
The closest Providence would get was 58-37. That's when Rogers, Church and Held closed out the quarter with six in a row for a 64-37 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Providence (6-13, 4-10) scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter. DePaul's first three scores were all from long distance as Held dropped a pair and Rogers hit one. It was 73-47 at the media timeout.
It's a quick turnaround for DePaul with Butler coming to Wintrust Arena on Monday to close out the regular season. The BIG EAST game tips at 4 p.m. and will be shown on the BIG EAST Digital Network/FloSports.
Postgame Notes
After a brief two-game skid, No. 24/23 DePaul returned to the 'W' column on Saturday with a resounding 75-49 BIG EAST victory over Providence at Alumni Hall. The Blue Demons improved to 14-6 on the season and 11-4 in the BIG EAST.
Lexi Held led the way with 21 points, five assists and three steals. She was 5-of-7 from three-point range to tie a career high. Deja Church set a career high with four baskets from behind the arc (4-of-5) and finished with 16 points.
Darrione Rogers had her best game in a while with 13 points while Sonya Morris racked up her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds---tying a career high. Dee Bekelja filled out the stat sheet with eight points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Morris hit a pair of jumpers, one a three-pointer, to ignite DePaul's 10-3 start after the opening tip. That led to Providence coach Jim Crowley calling a timeout to cool off one of the Blue Demons' patented offensive surges.
Church and Rogers maintained the momentum as Rogers buried a long jumper followed by a deep three-pointer as DePaul led 22-15 after the first quarter. The Blue Demons shot 53 percent including 4-of-8 from distance in the first 10 minutes.
Coach Doug Bruno's team greeted the second quarter with back-to-back threes from Held and Morris. Another Held score upped the run to 8-0, and a pretty Held assist on a Kiara Dallmann layup made it 32-17 at the second quarter media timeout.
Held, Church and Bekelja connected from behind the arc as the Blue Demons went into halftime with a 42-24 lead. They outscored the Friars 20-9 in the second quarter.
Held had 10 points at the break while Church, Morris and Rogers each had eight. Rogers was 3-of-4 shooting including 2-of-3 from three-point range and playing with the kind of confidence the freshman exhibited earlier in the season.
DePaul put this one away after opening the third quarter with a 16-4 run as Church buried a pair from behind the arc while Held and Bekelja had one each from deep for a 30-point lead that was 58-30 at the media timeout.
The closest Providence would get was 58-37. That's when Rogers, Church and Held closed out the quarter with six in a row for a 64-37 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Providence (6-13, 4-10) scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter. DePaul's first three scores were all from long distance as Held dropped a pair and Rogers hit one. It was 73-47 at the media timeout.
It's a quick turnaround for DePaul with Butler coming to Wintrust Arena on Monday to close out the regular season. The BIG EAST game tips at 4 p.m. and will be shown on the BIG EAST Digital Network/FloSports.
Postgame Notes
- DePaul was 16-of-29 from deep with Held, Church and Rogers combining to go 12-of-17. Hitting 16 threes is the second-highest mark this season to the 19 against Chicago State.
- Church set a career high with four from behind the arc while Held's five tied a career high. Morris tied a career high with 11 rebounds.
- DePaul's series record against Providence is now 21-4.
- The Blue Demons have won 18 in a row against the Friars.
- Sonya Morris is second in the BIG EAST in scoring 20-or-more points with 11 times in 20 games. Villanova's Maddy Siegrist leads with 12. Morris' 26 points on Jan. 16 at Georgetown tied her season and the team high---also scoring 26 Dec. 13 against Loyola.
- Lexi Held is a double-figure scorer in every game except one and has 103 points in her last five games.
- Morris has 131 points in her last seven games.
- Held has 31 steals in her last seven games.
- DePaul checked in at No. 24 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 and No. 23 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.
- Bruno's full-court pressure tactics and his players' ball-hawking aggression have forced 20 or more turnovers in every game except six this season including 27 against No. 10/10 Texas A&M and 23 against both No. 2/2 Louisville and No. 9/9 Kentucky. Georgetown's 33 miscues on Jan. 16 were a season high. Providence had 20 on Saturday. The Blue Demons are No. 6 in the nation in forcing turnovers averaging more than 22 a game.
- After Deja Church reached the 1,000-point mark in her career on Jan. 21 at Butler, Lexi Held reached the milestone on Feb. 15 against Seton Hall. Sonya Morris became DePaul's third 1,000-point scorer of the season on Feb. 17 against Xavier.
Team Stats
DePaul
PROV
FG%
.467
.368
3FG%
.552
.118
FT%
.600
.714
RB
39
32
TO
18
20
STL
14
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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