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[Updated: Monday, Nov. 18, 11:30 p.m.]
As soon as DePaul women’s basketball tipped off against Illinois State, there were two DePaul defenders on the ball carrier in the backcourt.
The pressure was there.
Within the first five minutes of the game, the Blue Demons forced five turnovers and jumped out to a 12 to 4 lead.
They never let up.
The No. 25 ranked Blue Demons (3-0) forced 28 turnovers and scored 31 points off of them Monday in an 80-67 win over Illinois State (0-2). The team was nine forced turnovers away from a team record of 37, earned in 2003 against University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
“If you were just watching the game and didn’t look at the scoreboard, you’d think we would have won the game by 30,” Head Coach Doug Bruno said. “But that’s what was tough about tonight’s game is that we didn’t capitalize.
“I thought Illinois State handled the pressure,” Bruno said. “I thought they handled it pretty well. We didn’t demoralize them. Sometimes when you turn it over like this, sometimes they get demoralized. I thought they did a good job of continuing to get back at us, which you have to do against this type of pressure.”
DePaul’s constant pressure led to success on the offensive end with 40 fastbreak points and 42 points in the paint, but it was also sloppy. The Blue Demons themselves had 19 turnovers and missed easy layups throughout.
Bruno said the style was necessary based on the personnel of the team, but the team needed to make better decisions.
“I believe we have a lot of good players yet we aren’t overly strong in the middle,” Bruno said. “I think that’s what the interesting point of tonight’s game: we have to develop an inside game.”
The Blue Demons’ bigs got their opportunity to shine. Jasmine Penny was a force on both ends with 21 points and 10 rebounds. It was her first double-double.
However, it was Brandi Harvey-Carr who made a surprising difference. Harvey-Carr, a freshman who was redshirted last year because of an injury, had her best collegiate game. She finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
“My goal was to actually make my layups,” Harvey-Carr said. “I tried to get my teammates open and once my teammates are open, it opens up posts up for me.”
Penny also benefited Harvey-Carr posting up, freeing her up from the double teams she would normally be getting.
“I was actually really excited for Brandi,” Penny said. “She did really good tonight. I like having another post player in there that we can get the ball too. She’s really strong down low so it was exciting to see her tonight.”
To Illinois State’s credit, the Redbirds kept fighting. After going down 30-17 early on, Illinois State closed DePaul’s lead to two in the final seconds before halftime. The Redbirds trailed at the half 41 to 37 with Brittany Hrynko scoring a buzzer-beating layup.
In the second half, Illinois State continued their best to stick around despite DePaul jumping out to an 8-0 run. The Redbirds played physical, getting to the foul line 25 times. Illinois State’s Chloe Nelson led her team with ten trips to the line and finished with 18 points.
The Blue Demons ran into foul trouble for most of the second half. Harvey-Carr fouled out with 3:56 to go. Hrynko and Penny also finished with four fouls.
“You have to keep people off the free throw line,” Bruno said. “We know the way this game is going to be called that there’s going to be a lot of free throws now. We have to be wiser.”
DePaul slowed down the pace in the final five minutes, letting Hrynko run the offense and focus on the half-court. Hrynko had another stellar night, scoring 16 points and dishing out eight assists.
Bruno said it was important to be able to slow it down to prepare them for the slower nature of NCAA tournament games in March.
“This was definitely a work-in-progress game,” Bruno said. “We got a lot of things done, but we still have a lot of things to do.”
