UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – It was ugly, and at times frustrating for the Blue Demons, but defense and rebounding overcame some terrible shooting to help the team seal a 56-43 victory over Navy in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, snapping a four-year streak of first-round exits. Down low, forward Felicia Chester led the Blue Demons with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomores Katherine Harry and Anna Martin each added 10 points. Meanwhile, the Midshipmen got double-digit scoring efforts from freshman forward Jade Geif (14) and senior point guard Angela Myers (13).
“It’s kind of a sigh of relief,” said senior Sam Quigley. “After four years having been here and not getting the win, it kind of felt like a jinx, so it’s great that we got it.”
Whether it was a jinx or not, breaking that pattern didn’t come easy.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball from the opening tip, with neither school hitting even 40 percent of their shots for the game. DePaul finished 25-67, including 3-15 from behind the arc-a huge upgrade over their 12-39, 0-10 first half performance. Martin was only 2-8 in the first period, and missed all three of her 3-point attempts. She finished the game 5-17.
“I was a little frustrated with myself personally, just because I thought I missed a lot of shots I normally make,” Martin said. “But whenever that happens, we always have to pick it up defensively, and I think we did that collectively. We really tried to focus on defense and rebounding, especially after halftime.”
The Blue Demons also worked to speed up the pace of the game in the second half, after Navy experienced some success slowing things down from the start.
“Tempo was a huge aspect of this game,” said DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno. “They wanted a slow tempo, and a slow tempo was to their advantage and we wanted to speed it up and we were able to speed it up with the efforts and energy of our players.”
The Midshipmen actually jumped ahead for their first lead of the game early in the second half. Alex Membreno hit a 3-pointer to put Navy up 30-29 at the 16:12 mark. They stayed close for the next six minutes of the game, and trailed DePaul 41-40 with 10:28 remaining. But Navy Head Coach Stefanie Pemper said after the game that DePaul changed its offensive set late in the second half, and her team struggled to defend it.
“All of the dribble-weave stuff and the high ball screen. It was just hard to stay with them,” she said. “Then you throw a ball screen into that and wonder if they’re going to use it or not. When you get all the attention on the perimeter it made it easy for them to go inside. It was harder for us to double down on their shooters and a lot of movement on the 3-point line. It gave them lanes to drive and some space on the inside.”
For the first 30 minutes, Navy made the most of its first NCAA tournament berth against a DePaul team Pemper called “the best team we’ve ever played.” Much of their early success was because of Geif, who Bruno mentioned by name before the game as a very good player. She knocked down 6-9 shots plus two free throws to reach her 14 points, and also pulled down 12 boards.
“She is a very strong person. Not just strong physically, I think she’s a very strong mental player as well,” said Katherine Harry, who was matched up against Geif for much of the game. “It’s kind of her release from all that is to come play basketball, so she really does what she can when she’s out on the basketball court. And I respect the hell out of her because she is a very talented player.
“She’s a tough kid to play against.”
Myers, who led the team in scoring this year, put up 11 points in the first half only to cool off in the second. She finished with 13 while adding three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Keisha Hampton matched up against Myers on defense for much of the game, and said the team had talked about Myers’ role in preparation for the game.
“She makes their team go,” Hampton said. “She’s the glue to their team. We tried to reduce her touches. We didn’t want her to get in the lane and open up anything else for her teammates. So we tried to play tough, play her hard. I tried to use my length on her, but she was a tough guard for me. She’s just a really good player.”
But Myers, who walked up to the press conference wiping away tears from her eyes, also had seven of the team’s 23 turnovers.
“It was my fault,” said Myers after the game, when asked about what caused the turnovers. “I just wish I never gave the ball up or passed it. It was carelessness on my part, not nerves or moving too fast, just carelessness. Those turnovers really killed us.”
“All the credit to them: They made it a really tough game,” Harry said. “They’re a great team and you can see why they won the Patriot League.they made it tough on us, but I think we just had that willpower that, we’re gonna get to the second round. We’re gonna do it.”
Their reward for snapping the streak? A game against Penn State Monday night on their home court.