With the tone of Head Coach Doug Bruno’s voice, one would not have guessed DePaul women’s basketball won 77-59 against Seton Hall. “I love this basketball team when they play with intelligence and energy like they did in the first half,” Bruno said. “I think there’s a statement when you’re a parent that, children need the most love when they’re least lovable. And that’s what I’m fighting to engender in myself after the second half. Because the people that were on the floor in the first half that did the thing we did, the same people go out on the floor in the second half.”
DePaul shot 51.6 percent in the first half and scored 50 points, while holding the Pirates to 22.2 percent shooting and 22 points. Keisha Hampton led all scorers at halftime with 13 and Taylor Pikes had 10. More importantly for Bruno, the team played with energy on defense (11 steals in the half) and played an efficient inside-outside game (20 of DePaul’s points in the first half came in the paint).
But the last 20 minute, Bruno watched, frustrated, as his team got sloppy.
“Oh we did lose the second half,” Bruno said after the game. “I think we got our butts kicked in the second half by 10? 15? There’s games within games, and it’s not ok to be up 28 at halftime, it’s not ok to be up 34 in the first half and let it get back to 25, which we did.”
Asked how the team can reverse their trend of taking their foot of the gas pedal when they have a big lead-something they have done consistently throughout this season, including Thursday against NJIT-Taylor Pikes said the players need to put more pressure on themselves.
“I think we can stay on each other, keep pushing each other because the game isn’t over,” said Pikes, who finished the game with 16 points. “And they weren’t gonna stop playing, so we have to continue to play.”
The Pirates as a team scored 37 points on 38.5 percent shooting during the second half, and were 4-7 from behind the arc. Their starting forward Kandice Green notched a game-high 20 points after having only four at halftime. She also pulled down six rebounds in the second half.
Deanna Ortiz and Jennifer Juergens both did not play with injuries, and Deirdre Naughton did not play after getting 25 minutes against NJIT on Thursday. DePaul starting guard Anna Martin, who scored 12 on the night, said their currently short rotation had no effect on their lackadaisical second half play.
“I think players always get tired but that’s what we practice for,” Martin said. “That’s what we work all preseason for is to play at that intensity, so I guess I mean just a little bit because we’re players and that’s just natural. But no, we practice to play at that level.”
Despite the second half letdown, DePaul improved to 6-0 in the Big East and 19-2 overall.
The team travels to Cincinnati (8-9, 1-4) on Tuesday before playing No. 9/9 West Virginia (18-1, 4-1) at home. They then head east to play No. 2/2 UConn (17-1. 6-0). That makes two tough matchups the team cannot afford to let up against.
“If this team is gonna be as good as people talk about they’re gonna be,” Bruno said, “there’s a lot of fixing that still has to get done.