DePaul WBB Edges Marquette 87-82

Chicago IL

07 February, 2021

3:38 PM

Description

The DePaul Blue Demons Women's Basketball Team traveled 90 minutes north to face familiar Big East and Chicago area rival Marquette. DePaul came away with an 87-82 win, but they had a bit of a battle. While DePaul held the lead for 36:50 to Marquette's 1:42 and had their biggest lead at 17, the game seemed closer than those lopsided stats. That can be expected from this big rivalry. Early on, the announcers stated Marquette's goal was to match DePaul basket for basket. Despite a few minutes of DePaul having a big lead, Marquette almost accomplished their goal. DePaul led 23-20 after one quarter, 42-40 at half and 63-59 after three quarters. Every time DePaul pulled away, Marquette came roaring back, although eventually falling short. DePaul held a 33-25 lead in points from turnovers, but Marquette led 46-40 in points from the paint. DePaul outscored Marquette on fast breaks 34-25, but Marquette returned the favor on second chance points 12-8. Marquette scored 18 off the bench, while DePaul only managed one point from the reserves. DePaul shot 44.9% from the field, 28.6% from three point land and a stunning 94.1% from the free throw line. Meanwhile Marquette shot 46.2%, 33.3% and 90.9% respectively. Deja Church paced the Blue Demons with 24, while Sonya Morris was right behind with 23. Dee Bekelja had 18, Lexi Held had 17, Jorie Allen had four and Darrione Rogers had one to round out the scoring. Rogers led in rebounds with seven, while Allen and Church grabbed six each. Held and Church also had five steals each. The game was the 1,400 in DePaul Women's Basketball history, with DePaul holding a 926-474 record. It was also the 75th in the rivalry with Marquette, which started in 1978. DePaul holds a 47-28 advantage in the series. DePaul is now 10-4, 7-2 in Big East Conference play. That's good for 2nd place in the Big East, behind UConn at 11-0. They came into the game ranked 20/21 by the Associated Press and the USA Today Coaches poll. DePaul returns to action on Wednesday, February 10 at St. John's.