DePaul Prevails
February 16, 2008 04:52 PM | General
February 16, 2008
BOX SCORE | COACHES' QUOTES | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Deirdre Naughton scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead DePaul to an 81-80 victory over No. 11 West Virginia Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
The Blue Demons used 14 3-point field goals and a 46-32 advantage on the glass to knock off the Mountaineers in a game played before a record crowd of 8,307 on “Think Pink” day to raise awareness for the fight against breast cancer.
China Threatt came off the bench to score 15 on three of four shooting from 3-point range, and Allie Quigley added 12 to boost DePaul’s record to 17-7, 6-5.
The Blue Demons made 15 of 18 from the free throw line and had 16 offensive rebounds.
West Virginia got 22 from LaQuita Owens and 15 points and seven rebounds from Olayinka Sanni. The Mountaineers were 11 of 22 from 3-point range and shot 49.2 percent overall, but missed 10 of 19 from the foul line and gave up 19 second-chance points to the Blue Demons.
West Virginia’s Ashley Powell gave the Mountaineers a two-point lead on a driving lay up with 4:32 remaining. But DePaul went on an 8-0 run to take a 75-69 lead with 1:42 left. WVU had open looks from Meg Bulger, Owens and Sparkle Davis on consecutive trips down the floor but could not cash in on any of them.
Meanwhile, Naughton hit a tough 3 from the top of the key to give the lead back to DePaul, Threatt’s jumper put the Blue Demons back up by three, 72-69, and Quigley canned another 3 to give DePaul a 75-69 lead.
The Blue Demons managed to make six of seven from the free throw line down the stretch to win a game that had 11 lead changes.
The biggest lead by either team was six by DePaul twice.
West Virginia drops to 20-4, 9-2 and had its 16-game home-court winning streak snapped. The Mountaineers were also just a ½ game away from Connecticut for first place in the Big East.
WVU returns to action Tuesday night at Cincinnati for a league road game that will tip off at 7 pm.
