Marquette University Athletics
15th-Ranked DePaul Escapes Women's Basketball's Upset Bid
2/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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CHICAGO ? Marquette was unable to take advantage of superb performances from their freshmen, as DePaul (20-2, 6-1 C-USA) edged Marquette (16-6, 6-3 C-USA) 61-59 at the DePaul Athletic Center. Despite forcing a tie with 13 seconds to play, Marquette came up two points shy of defeating the nation?s 15th-ranked team.
Freshman Christina Quaye led Marquette with 16 points. The center converted 7-of-14 field goal attempts and grabbed four rebounds in 26 minutes. Quaye was limited by four personal fouls, while defending the Blue Demon?s Khara Smith, Conference USA?s leading scorer. Senior guard Kelly Schwerman chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Freshman Danielle Kamm rounded out the Golden Eagle double-figure scorers with 10 points.
DePaul was paced by Charlene Smith?s 17 points, while her cousin, Khara Smith tossed in 15 points, and grabbed 15 rebounds. Ashley Luke (16) and Jenni Dant (11) constituted the bulk of the rest of the Blue Demon?s scoring, as the backcourt duo combined to go 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
The Blue Demons opened the game on a 9-0 run, as they spread the Marquette defense to create made shots for each of their starters.DePaul?s first five made shots were spread among the starters, who went on to score all of the Blue Demons? points in 192 of 200 minutes. Marquette responded quickly on a 9-0 run of their own. Seniors Crystal Weaver and Kelly Schwerman led the counter-attack, each making two buckets over the stretch.
Both teams settled down late in the first frame,and DePaul took a one-point advantage into the intermission.
After continued sparring early in the second half, Marquette geared up and used another senior charge, this one by Katie O'Grady and Schwerman to make a 9-0 run over three minutes and 30 seconds to forge a 42-36 lead.
Marquette kept the lead until the 4:30 mark of the second half, when DePaul tied the contest at 50 on a free throw by Charlene Smith. Marquette surged ahead again, on layups by Crystal Weaver and Christina Quaye, to take a five-point lead with 3:30 to play. The Blue Demons answered, with another 9-0 run to take back the lead at 59-55, with 35 second remaining.
Christina Quaye came up big again, with another bucket inside, and after Charlene Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one, Carolyn Kieger drove around the left side of the DePaul defense for a layup with 13 seconds to play. After a Marquette timeout, DePaul put the ball in the hand of Charlene Smith. Taking the ball from the top of the key, Smith slashed left through the lane and banked-home an off-balance shot from 10 feet to put the Blue Demons up. without timeouts remaining Carolyn Kieger pushed the ball up the right side of the court, where her last second three-pointer fell off the mark.
The Smith cousins accounted for all of DePaul?s offense over the last five minutes, each scoring six points to help DePaul pull out the win.
MU returns to action on Friday, February 13, taking on Memphis at 7 p.m. at the Al McGuire Center.
