Marquette Falls to No. 12 DePaul, 77-56

Recap | Box Score
Click here for complete release in PDF format.

CHICAGO (AP) ? DePaul avenged its only Conference USA loss with a 77-56 victory over Marquette Sunday.

Jenni Dant scored 29 points for the 12th-ranked Blue Demons (24-3, 13-1), who matched a league record with their 13th straight conference win.

DePaul had not lost since a 63-57 defeat to the Golden Eagles in the conference opener on Jan. 9.

Jenna Rubino and Allie Quigley each added 17 points for DePaul. The Blue Demons only shot 35 percent in the second half, but were able to hold of Marquette with 13 3-pointers for the game.

DePaul led 48-28 at halftime and scored 27 points off turnovers to 11 for the Golden Eagles.

Carolyn Kieger's 15 points led Marquette (17-10, 8-6), which had won three straight games against DePaul. Lesley Juedes had 12 points and Efueko Osaige added 10.

DePaul started the game on a 19-0 run. Marquette recovered and scored the next 12 points. DePaul answered that rally with a 17-0 run to lead 36-12.

"If you eliminate the first five minutes of the game, it would have been one heck of a game," Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell said. "They came out on fire."

DePaul hit 13-of-22 from behind the three-point line, led by five bombs from Dant.

"You pick your poison. We talked so much about the paint. We knew they could shoot threes, but it was start in the paint and work your way out," Mitchell said. "It happened. I thought we fought hard and played hard. I told the players we have to quickly recover from this. We have a conference tournament to play and we're fighting for a chance for post-season. It's not like we're the first team to come in here and have this happen."

Sunday's game marked the final regular-season meeting in C-USA. Both schools are joining the Big East next season.

As a result, Marquette earned the no. 7 seed in the Conference USA Tournament, which begins Thursday. Marquette plays 10 seed UAB at 8:30 p.m. EST.
>