No. 20 Marquette blows past No. 24 DePaul 96-63

No.+20+Marquette+blows+past+No.+24+DePaul+96-63

Same date, same result.

For the second straight season on Jan. 4, No. 20 Marquette jumped all over DePaul in the first quarter, this time outscoring them 29-9 en route to an empathic 96-63 victory over No.24 DePaul (10-5) Friday night, avenging a 35-point loss to the Blue Demons in the Big East Championship last season.

While DePaul only trailed 9-5 after the first couple of minutes, Marquette closed the quarter on 20-2 run to put DePaul in a major early hole. While Marquette, especially Natisha Hiedeman and Amani Wilborn, were firing on all cylinders, the Blue Demons offense struggled shooting just 25 percent from the field and hit just one-of-nine shots from beyond the arc.

DePaul settled down in the second quarter  out-scoring Marquette 21-19, but still trailed by 18 points at halftime.

Things began to spiral out of control in the third quarter, however, as Marquette scored seven-straight points to open up a 66-37 advantage with 3:27 left, and would even build on that advantage leading 74-40 after three quarters.

The story of the night was Hiedeman who tied a career high with 32 points, six assists and eight rebounds and also posted another career high with six steals.

On the other hand, everything that could go wrong for the Blue Demons did as they finished with 20 turnovers, as opposed to just 12 assists. The Golden Eagles made them pay with 30 fastbreak points and 33 points off those DePaul turnovers. Marquette also did damage inside with 46 points in the paint as opposed to just 34 for the Blue Demons.

All this came without Marquette’s second-leading scorer Allazia Blockton who was held out due to an ankle injury. Sophomore guard Selena Lott stepped in to replace her and finished with 11 points, five assists and seven rebounds, but truly the spotlight was on senior guard Hiedeman.

Mart’e Grays was one of the few bright spots for the Blue Demons with 23 points and 10 rebounds, including 16 first-half points. Ashton Millender also finished with 11 points and was the only other Blue Demon in double figures.

Meanwhile Kelly Campbell, Chante Stonewall and Rebekah Dahlman combined for 15 points, although Campbell also pulled down seven rebounds to go along with four assists.

DePaul’s now has a week off before they will travel to McDonough Arena as they face Georgetown on Friday at 6 p.m. CT before continuing their trip to Villanova on Sunday.