Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Depaul
DePaul Mounts Second-Half Comeback, 70-65
12/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
"All conference openers are important when the slate's clean," DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said. "If you have any chance of a championship, you've got to take care of your home court and whomever wins the most road games usually wins the conference."
Led by Jamie Lewis' 15 points and 14 points by Candis Blankson, DePaul (7-4, 1-0 C-USA) had four players in double figures in points. DePaul was, however, without leading scorer LeNae Williams, who averages 18.1 points per game. She suffered from a hernated disk and was a game-time scratch.
"It was an important game overcoming adversity," Bruno added. "It always makes the game a bit more adventurous when you're leading scorer is out."
Marquette forward Heidi Bowman led all scorers with 19 points after hitting a three-pointer with 16 seconds and a running jumper with four seconds. Bowman's jumpers ended MU's scoring difficulties, but came too little, too late.
"DePaul was picked to do great things this year," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We had some struggles late. I'm really concerned with the three or four times we came down the floor and were unable to get a good shot off."
DePaul rallied midway through the second half. DePaul forward Brianna Fitzgerald hit a pair of jumpers and a 24-foot three pointer by Molly Watson cut the Marquette lead to 54-53 with 8:12 to play. After a stagnant period for both squads DePaul earned its second lead of the game with 6:12 to play on a rebound and layup by Lewis.
After DePaul had sliced the Marquette lead to two early in the second half at 42-40, a pair of three-point plays by Becky Stieber extended the Golden Eagles' lead to eight before the DePaul comeback was mounted.
The Golden Eagles started off the contest has they have no other in the season. Marquette raced to a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game and jumped to a 10 point lead at 17-7 on a Zawodny three-point play.
Zawodny sparked the Golden Eagles attack in the first half with a 12-point, seven-rebound effort. After hitting 5-of-6 field goals and a pair of free throws on three-point plays, a pair of fouls forced Zawodny to sit the final five minutes of the first half.
"I was proud of the way both post players played and were able to score, but it's obvious that (Zawodny's) growing up," Mitchell added. "She was playing behind Abbie (Willenborg) and Lisa (Oldenburg) for the past two years and she has learned how to become a scorer on her own."
Prior to her four trouble, Zawodny helped Marquette to a 27-17 lead. Bowman also landed in double figures in the first half with 10 points. Marquette was successful driving to the basket early and drew several fouls that resulted in free throws. MU hit 9-of-10 first half free throws.
However the first half was not completely dominated by Marquette. After they reached a pair of 10-point leads, DePaul turned the offensive tables on MU, going on an 8-0 run.
Marquette next meets Colorado State on Jan. 2 at the U.S. Cellular Arena at 7 p.m.
