DePaul Falls 88-85 in Overtime at Marquette

Wednesday, January 12

Milwaukee, WI

7:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

12-4,4-1Big East

Marquette

10-4,3-2Big East

OT 1

DePaul

Marquette

1/12/2022 9:28:00 PM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Morrow and Rogers turn in double-doubles Wednesday night

MILWAUKEE – Passions were inflamed Wednesday night even as a spirited aggressiveness permeated the Al McGuire Center Court during a confrontation of long-time rivals DePaul and Marquette.

And when the smoke finally cleared, DePaul came up ever so short 88-85 in overtime.

It was the Blue Demons' first setback in BIG EAST Conference play, falling to 12-4, 4-1. Marquette improved to 10-4, 3-2.

Aneesah Morrow had another monster game with 21 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks. Lexi Held scored 18 points, Darrione Rogers had a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, Sonya Morris added 13 points and Deja Church 12.

Morris and Morrow scored early in overtime for a 77-76 lead. Lauren Van Kleunen scored twice in putting Marquette up 80-77. A Morris free throw cut the deficit by one until two Karissa McLaughlin (24 points) foul shots made it 82-78.

Morris hit another clutch shot and it was a two-point game. Church made a terrific steal but was whistled for her fifth foul when her drive to tie it ended up as a charging call.

Down by four, Held scored on a determined drive to the hoop. Four more McLaughlin free throws clinched it.

A 28-point third quarter helped DePaul change the landscape of this game. Leading by two after three quarters, two Held baskets, a tough Morrow score inside and a Rogers three provided a 62-55 lead with 6:36 left in the game.

Back came Marquette with a 10-1 run as Karissa McLaughlin's three gave the home team a 65-63 lead with 3:11 on the clock.

Morrow's three-point play and a Rogers three put DePaul ahead 70-68. Marquette scored five-straight and led 73-70.

Sonya Morris came down with a huge rebound and fed Church for a bucket. Lexi Held's free throw with 1.6 seconds tied it 73-73. Chloe Marotta's last-ditch basket with 0.4 seconds on the clock was ruled off by the officials after a lengthy review.

The Blue Demons were looking for a 180-degree turnaround after a balky first half left them trailing 31-25 at the break. They had to overcome their lowest-scoring half of the season.

DePaul opened the third quarter with its first three-pointer of the night, courtesy of Held. Church's basket cut the deficit to three until the Golden Eagles answered with a 10-2 run forcing coach Doug Bruno to call timeout with his team trailing 43-32.

All of a sudden, it was like Bruno's team hit the reset button. Back-to-back threes from Held and Collier followed by two driving Church scores and Morrow inside sparked a 12-2 run to bring the visitors within 45-44 at the second media timeout.

Rogers buried a clutch three-pointer and Kierra Collier followed with a nifty steal and layup to tie the game at 51-51 with 1:14 left in the quarter.

In the middle of setting up an isolation play, Morrow took matters into her own capable hands. The freshman saw an opening and drove to the rim to give her team a 53-51 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

DePaul got off to a slow start, missing the first eight shots after the opening tip. Morris snapped the cold streak with a jumper and Morrow followed with a three-point play.

Marquette's 11-4 rebounding edge in the first 5:30 helped the home team take a 7-5 lead at the first quarter media timeout.

Trailing by three, the Blue Demons scored six unanswered points and led 11-10 after one quarter. They shot just 4-of-20 in the opening 10 minutes including 0-for-6 from three-point range.

Back-to-back Morrow scores put the visiting team ahead 15-14 early in the second quarter. That's when the Golden Eagles went on a 9-2 burst for a 23-17 lead at the media timeout.

DePaul's sluggish offense continued, hitting just 7-of-33 shots at that point.

The first hint of "DePaulball" materialized near the end of the second quarter. Morris had a steal-and-layup followed by a Morrow blocked shot that triggered a Church fast-break layup.

Marquette scored the final basket of the first half to take a 31-25 lead into the locker room. The Blue Demons shot just 28.9 percent in the first 20 minutes including 0-for-8 from deep and 3-of-7 on free throws.

Part two of a three-games-in-five-days stretch comes at 7 p.m. Friday against Villanova at Wintrust Arena. The BIG EAST showdown will be televised nationally on FS2 with New York Mets radio voice Wayne Randazzo on play-by-play and Meghan McKeown as analyst.

It is the first women's game at Wintrust Arena that all guests age five and older will need to provide physical or digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon entry to the arena for the rest of the season in accordance with the City of Chicago's new mitigation requirements that went into effect on Jan. 3, 2022.

Postgame Notes

The Blue Demons came in leading the country in scoring and assists and have now scored 792 points in their last eight games---an average of 99 per game. They have reached the century mark five times in the last eight games.
DePaul has scored 100 or more a total of six times this season. That ties the program record set in 2014-15 (Brittany Hrynko, Jess January, Chanise Jenkins, Megan Rogowski & Co.) and 2016-17 (January, Brooke Schulte, Jacqui Grant, Amarah Coleman).
Morrow came into the game third in the nation in rebounds and fourth in double-doubles and offensive rebounds per game and seventh in field goals. She has eight consecutive double-doubles and 10 in her last 11 games.
The 6-1 freshman has 223 points and 149 rebounds in her last 11 games---an average of 20.3 points and 13.5 rebounds.
Morris came into the game sixth in the nation in field goals and Held was ninth in assists.
Morris and Held (1,392 points) are tied for No. 22 with Ashton Millender on the all-time scoring list. Jasmine Penny is No. 21 at 1,417.
Dee Bekelja played in her 135th game, tying Kelly Campbell and Felicia Chester for seventh all-time at 135. Katherine Harry is sixth at 136.
The Blue Demons are 3-3 against six NCAA tournament teams---beating Kentucky, Northwestern and Rutgers and falling to No. 23/17 Texas A&M, No. 4/8 Arizona and No. 20/17 Notre Dame.
Held is the BIG EAST's active career scoring leader in conference games with 785 points.
Morrow has scored in double figures 15 of the first 65 games of her collegiate career.
The Blue Demons have won the battle of the boards in 13 of 16 games including over No. 4/8 Arizona. DePaul outrebounded Marquette 52-47 on Wednesday night.
The 25 points at halftime was DePaul's lowest-scoring half of the season.