DePaul Women's Basketball Team Shows Heart in Loss

When I last saw the DePaul women's basketball team, they suffered a bit of a frustrating loss to Big East rival Seton Hall. In that post-game media session, DePaul coach Doug Bruno stressed that the team needed to dig deep within themselves to find the answers. On Sunday against Marquette, DePaul definitely dug deep and found some answers, although they ultimately lost the game.

In a rematch of last season's Big East Conference championship game, Marquette got some revenge with a 93-87 win to remain perfect in conference play. Marquette at 10-0 (19-3 overall) remains in 1st place and continues to prove they are on a mission.

The story for me in this game was DePaul's tenacity though. DePaul trailed most of the game. DePaul only lead for a mere 16 seconds as opposed to Marquette's 36:14 minutes of leading. Early in the 3rd quarter, Marquette pulled out to a 13 point lead, their biggest edge of the day.

DePaul kept coming back though. Marquette was never able to fully put away the Blue Demons. DePaul cut the lead to one going into the 4th quarter. The teams were tied with about 2 minutes left. Marquette led by 3 with 32 seconds left. Unfortunately, DePaul could not pull out the win.

Like Coach Bruno after the loss to Seton Hall, I was frustrated watching the team. This game was radically different. Despite the loss, I think the Demons proved they can play with Marquette.

Chante Stonewall led DePaul scorers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Maya Stovall had 9 assists to go with 10 points. Ashton Millender had 19 points, Rebekah Dahlman had 13, Mart'E Grays had 11, Lexi Held had 8, Kelly Campbel had 4 and Dee Bekelja had 1 to account for the rest of DePaul's scoring.

Marquette was led by Allazia Blockton's 25 points. Last season's Big East Player of the Year returned after missing several games with an injury. In her absence, Natisha Hiedeman stepped up big time, winning Big East Player of the Week honors.

A huge and loud crowd of nearly 2,000 filled McGrath-Phillips Arena. Marquette's fan base made their presence known throughout the game. The opposing sections made for a lively afternoon, while both teams gave everyone plenty of reason to cheer.

In the post-game media session, Marquette coach Carolyn Kieger was quick to point out DePul's effort. She proclaimed DePaul to be a Top 25 team. Obviously, she also praised her team, who despite not putting away DePaul earlier, still held on and got the win. She also expressed relief over the return of Blockton and also acknowledged the work of Hiedeman.

Coach Bruno followed Kieger and echoed many of her sentiments. As frustrated as Bruno might have been last time, he was proud and excited with the game DePaul played. It wasn't perfect, but they showed lots of heart to go with their immense talent.

Bruno finished his media session talking about the Big East Women's Tournament which will be played March 9-12 at Wintrust Arena. It was really at last season's tournament, when I totally became addicted to women's basketball.

I will soon write about last season's tourney, while looking at the upcoming tourney. For now though, I will savor the performances (by both team's) that I just witnessed.