DePaul used a second-half offensive barrage to run away with an 80-48 victory over the Missouri State Lady Bears in women’s college basketball action Sunday afternoon in Chicago. The loss was Missouri State’s sixth in a row to start the 2007-08 season and its 10th straight overall, matching the school record for consecutive defeats.
Keyed by a pair of Deirdre Naughton three-pointers, the 17th-ranked Blue Demons used a 19-0 run early in the second half to turn an eight-point lead into a 49-24 advantage with just under 15 minutes to play. Naughton would score 10 of her game high 20 points and DePaul outscored the Lady Bears 28-7 in the first nine minutes of the second half to take control of the game.
After holding just a four-rebound edge after the first 20 minutes of the contest, DePaul took control of the boards in the second period as well. The Blue Demons grabbed 26 offensive rebounds in all and finished with a 61-43 advantage on the boards.
Naughton led DePaul’s shooting efforts, going 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. The Blue Demons shot just .354 for the game, but knocked down 11 three-point tries to bury the Lady Bears.
DePaul jumped out to an early 14-point lead behind the shooting of Naughton and Allie Quigley. The duo combined for 12 of the Blue Demons’ first 18 points, as the home team used a 9-0 scoring run to build a 20-6 advantage.The Lady Bears answered with 10 straight points, the last two coming on a Marisha Brown 10-foot jumper with 6:52 left in the half to trim the deficit to 20-16. But Naughton and Missy Mitidiero hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead back to 10 with just over five minutes to go.
Naughton tallied 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the first half as the Blue Demons took a 30-22 advantage into the lockerroom. The Lady Bears shot just .310 from the field, including 0-of-13 from three-point range in the first stanza.
The Lady Bears early-season shooting woes continued Sunday, as MSU missed its first 18 tries from three-point range and shot just .262 from the field (16-of-61) for the game.
Junior forward Maggie Dwyer led the Lady Bears with 15 points, while freshman Marisha Brown recorded a career high rebounding effort with 16 boards.
Quigley added 11 points for the Blue Demons, and Natasha Williams pulled down 13 rebounds to lead DePaul.
The Lady Bears return home for a 7:05 p.m. matchup against Tulsa on Tuesday (Dec. 4). Missouri State wil host Saint Louis next Friday (Dec. 7) in a 7:05 p.m. contest, when the Lady Bears will honor the both the 1992 and 2001 Final Four squads.
