SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- DePaul awoke from its early-season slumber from beyond the arc to bury the Missouri State Lady Bears with a long-range shooting display to open the second half, propelling the Blue Demons to a 72-57 victory Wednesday (Dec. 10) evening at JQH Arena. Sam Quigley sparked a cavalcade of three-pointers by knocking down four triples in the first seven minutes after intermission to help the visitors outscore MSU 20-9 and seize control of a tightly-contested game.
The Lady Bears gave the Blue Demons all they could handle in the first half, absorbing the inside play of 6-3 senior Natasha Williams to build a an early four-point lead. After DePaul started the game by knocking down six of its first nine field goal attempts to grab a 14-9 edge, MSU scored 11 of the next 13 points to claim a 20-16 advantage, the last three coming on a three-pointer by junior Melissa Busby with just under eight minutes to play in the period.
DePaul reclaimed the lead on the strength of the 6-3 Williams, who tallied 10 of her 12 points in the half and held MSU’s leading scorer, freshman Casey Garrison, to just two free throws. The Blue Demons scored 11 unanswered points over a three-minute span to battle from behind to claim a 33-28 halftime edge.
Traditionally one of the nation’s top three-point shooting squads, DePaul entered the game shooting just 28.6 percent from long range. But Quigley teamed up with freshman guard Deanna Ortiz to hit six trifectas in the opening minutes of the second half, the last of which gave the Blue Demons a 16-point advantage to match their largest lead of the evening.
But MSU bounced back, getting five straight points from Lacey Boshe to slice the deficit to 11. Dierdre Naughton added one more triple for the Blue Demons’ already impressive showing to make it a 56-42 ballgame with 11:51 to play. The Lady Bears would claw their way back to within eight by draining eight consecutive foul shots, but MSU would go nearly 10 minutes without a field goal to seal its fate.
Quigley, who finished with a game-high 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range, led four Blue Demons in double figures. DePaul, which improved to 8-2 on the season, got 14 points, six boards, five assists and four blocks from freshman Keisha Hampton, as well as a double-double from Williams (10 rebounds).
DePaul enjoyed a huge advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Lady Bears by a 44-29 margin, including a 20-11 edge on the offensive boards. After connecting on just 1-of-8 attempts in the opening half, the Blue Demons ultimately knocked down 9-of-18 second-half three-point tries and shot just under 42 percent overall from the floor on the evening.
The Lady Bears, who dropped their fifth straight game to fall to 1-7 on the season, shot just .313 (15-of-48) for the game, but committed a season-low nine turnovers against the Blue Demons.
Missouri State was able to stay close throughout the contest despite an 0-of-7 night from the floor by Garrison, who finished with a season-low four points. The Lady Bears got a game- and career-high 18 points from freshman Jasmine Malone to spark the MSU attack. The San Antonio, Texas, product finished 6-of-13 from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, while also pulling down a team-high six boards. Boshe matched her career scoring high with a 12-point effort, while Maggie Dwyer chipped in with 10 points.
Up next, the Lady Bears will wrap up their three-game home stand with a 2:05 p.m. contest against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock on Sunday (Dec. 14) at JQH Arena. MSU will play face off against Stephen F. Austin (Dec. 19) and Chattanooga (Dec. 20) as part of the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico, to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.
