DePaul women battle, fall to UConn

It's almost not enough to win at Connecticut.

The women's basketball team there, the three-time defending national champion and the No. 1 team in the country at the moment, is expected to win big. Like really big. Every single time.

The Huskies' average margin of victory prior to Wednesday's nationally televised game against DePaul at a jam-packed McGrath-Phillips Arena in Lincoln Park was 43.5 points per game. And that included a 44-point win over Ohio State, a team ranked in the top 25 at the time.

"I don't want people to think that every time Connecticut plays, they've got to win by 40 and if they don't, then 'What's wrong with Connecticut?'" Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "How about what's right with DePaul?

"DePaul played great. They just didn't have as many All-Americans as we did."

Connecticut's vast depth of elite-level talent eventually wore down No. 18 DePaul en route to an 86-70 win. But it was DePaul's hustle and stifling full-court pressure that was wearing at Connecticut for much of a nip-and-tuck first half. The Blue Demons, who were making wholesale substitutions every two minutes to keep players fresh enough to press nonstop, trailed Connecticut by just 3 points at halftime, 44-41. They forced 10 first-half Connecticut turnovers. Meanwhile, they were raining 3-pointers, going 9-of-17 on the half.

"There was a point in the first half where we were in the huddle and just saying that, 'We can do this,'" said DePaul guard Brooke Schutle, who scored 12 points on two 3-pointers. "We just had to keep doing all the little things."

But Connecticut went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter and DePaul was never able to get closer than 5 points, which was the margin with 8:12 left in the game. But within the next two minutes, the Connecticut lead was back up to double-digits.

"In the first half, it looked like we were playing with our heads cut off," said Connecticut all-American forward Breanna Stewart, who finished with a game-high 29 points and was a beast on the boards with 12 rebounds. "We were running around all over the place and they (the Blue Demons) were pushing tempo.

"The biggest key to our run (at the start of the second half) was staying composed both offensively and defensively."

The Huskies got double-figures out of three other players, including former Bolingbrook star Moran Tuck, who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

DePaul got a team-high 18 points from guard Jessica January and 10 points from point guard Chanise Jenkins.

"These players should know now that we can play with anyone in the country," DePaul coach Doug Bruno said of his players.