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The DePaul women’s team’s unabating defensive effort held uptown rival Northwestern to just 38 percent shooting (23-61 FG), as the Blue Demons trounced the Wildcats 89-61 at McGrath-Phillips Arena Sunday night.
Led by sophomore guard Megan Rogowski, who scored a career high 22 points (8-15 FG) off the bench, the Blue Demons clamped down on the Wildcats from the tip. Coming away with a dominant 51-38 rebounding advantage, DePaul worked tirelessly to keep Northwestern’s tall frontcourt players in check on defense, while spreading the floor and finding open baskets on the attack.
“I never imagined we were going to play as well as we ended up playing today,” said head coach Doug Bruno, who coached his 800th career game at DePaul Sunday. “Northwestern is a really, really good basketball team. They’re 6-1 for a reason.”
Rogowski, whose alma mater John Hersey High School gathered a contingent to come watch her play, didn’t disappoint her supporters with her shooting performance.
“Yeah, they got themselves together and decided to come to this game and it just happened that I shot the ball really well and put some points up,” said Rogowski. “It was just luck that they were falling.”
Bruno laughed at the thought that Rogowski’s scoring Sunday was luck. Rather, this is the kind of play he has expected from her since the preseason.