The DePaul Blue Demons did not have to travel far to take on their final non-conference opponent of the season in the UIC Flames, but a 77-67 final marked their sixth loss in seven games.

The loss, their first to UIC since 1981, was their third of the year to Chicago-based rivals, joining a 61-49 final against Loyola Chicago and a 79-72 final against Northwestern.

“You want to win your rivalry games in your own city,” head coach Jill M. Pizzotti said on Wednesday night. “Every game on your schedule, you’re trying to win, but certainly your cross-town rivals, your in city rivals. You really want to win those games and establish yourself as the women’s basketball program in the city of Chicago.”

Ultimately, the Blue Demons came up ten points short of meeting that goal on Wednesday night, with foul trouble and shooting woes again being big reasons why.

“We had 24 fouls. Put them on the line 25 times,” Pizzotti said. “That was significant in this game, but I certainly liked our players’ energy. I felt we did create some opportunities from our defense. We just again had problems putting the ball in the hole.”

Granted, a chunk of DePaul’s violations came at the end of the fourth quarter, where the Blue Demons were forced to foul to have any hope of a late comeback. Still, the visiting squad ended with four players with four fouls while giving up 15 points from the charity line.

DePaul’s defense was formidable, forcing 16 total turnovers that they converted into 16 points, but allowing a 55% shooting performance from the field is hard to overcome, especially when the team is shooting at a 33% rate on the other end.

Failing to shoot better than a 40% rate as a team in each of their last six losses, the Blue Demons have had problems consistently hitting shots, with guard Shakara McCline serving as one of the few exceptions.

McCline, who missed the team’s first ten games to injury, led the team in scoring against UIC, and has now set a new career milestone in back-to-back games. In a 12-point performance against Michigan State, McCline made four three-pointers, the most of her career. Against UIC, the guard set a new career high with 25 points, again making four shots from deep. She alone counted for 25 of the team’s 45 points off the bench.

“Shakara’s very talented, so it’s great to have her back,” Pizzotti said. “She’s got a little catching up to do, and I want to be sensitive to her conditioning, but tonight I thought she really, again, made some strides. She’s doing a good job, we love to have that energy off the bench and help us on the defensive end of the floor”

McCline is a shot of energy for her team when she is on the court, but she perhaps saw more action on Wednesday due to the loss of Kate Novik, the junior guard who entered the night leading her team in points per game (9.2), rebounds per game (6.7), assists per game (3.5) and blocks per game (1.0). With a short boot on her left ankle, Novik was unable to assist her team in their 10-point loss.

“There’s a chance we’ll have her back fairly soon,” Pizzotti said. “It’s an ankle.”

Novik joins senior guard Kate Clarke as important back-court reinforcements that the Blue Demons would benefit from having back in their lineup, although Clarke is not slated to rejoin the team until “after the holidays,” Pizzotti said.

Nonetheless, it was too little, too late for DePaul against UIC, and with the bulk of their conference schedule starting Dec. 20 on the road against Creighton, the Blue Demons, who are already 0-2 in the Big East, need to find answers soon, whether it’s being more efficient from the field, getting players back from injury or a combination of the two.

Shakara McCline’s third made three of the night lifted her scoring total to 22 points while bringing DePaul within two points with four minutes to play, but the Blue Demons have found themselves in foul trouble at the end of the game. With 21 team fouls, DePaul has put UIC in the bonus, and the visitors have three players — Michelle Ojo, Natiah Nelson and Alayna West — who are all one violation away from fouling out. DePaul trails 69-64 with two and a half to play.

After clawing their way to a 56-55 lead, DePaul saw their efforts wash away quickly due to a 7-1 scoring run from UIC that featured three made free throws and two second chance baskets. Shakara McCline converted both of her ensuing free throw attempts to bring the Blue Demons within four points, but a traveling violation has set up UIC with the ball and a 62-58 lead coming out of a timeout with just shy of five minutes remaining.

After trailing for the majority of the first half, DePaul seemed to find their rhythm in the third quarter, outscoring UIC 23-14 to start the second half. Gina Davorija’s made three in the final minute of the quarter lifted the Blue Demons from a 49-49 tie, and despite the best efforts of a diving Meg Newman to keep the ensuing final possession of the frame alive, DePaul carries a one-point lead into the fourth quarter.

On the court, the Blue Demons are led by Shakara McCline’s 17 points, the same total she logged off the bench in the team’s loss to Michigan State, Natiah Nelson’s five assists and six boards each from Michelle Ojo and Alayna West.

Michelle Ojo’s made free throw with 3:42 left to play in the third quarter tied up the game 44-44, and after missing the second attempt, Ojo’s shot landed with Shakara McCline, who drilled her second three-pointer of the night, giving DePaul their first lead since the nine minute mark of the second quarter while simultaneously boosting her game-high points total to 17.

With three and a half remaining this quarter, DePaul has outscored their opponent 18-7 since halftime.

After allowing a made basket in the paint to start the second half, the Blue Demons were quick to get on the board with back-to-back made turn-around jumpers from Natiah Nelson. Meg Newman’s made floater on the next possession, in which she also recorded offensive rebound, was followed by an Ally Timm three pointer. Good defense on the other end kept UIC scoreless, and Alayna West’s bucket brought the score to 41-40 in the home team’s favor with six minutes left in the third quarter.

After keeping it a back-and-forth contest for the majority of the first half, DePaul forfeited a 11-0 near the end of the second that took a Shakara McCline converted and-one layup to stop the bleeding. A made three by Natiah Nelson on the ensuing possession cut UIC’s lead to 37-29, but despite the deficit, DePaul has seen strong individual performances from a few players.

McCline, who leads the effort with 14 points, is the only Blue Demon with five or more points. She has also added a rebound through 11 minutes of play. Michelle Ojo and Alayna West have both logged a team-high six rebounds, including a combined two of the team’s eight total offensive boards.

While UIC is shooting more efficiently, both from the field and from deep, DePaul is currently leading in rebounds, second chance points and points off the bench.

A pair of made free throws by Alayna West brought the game within two points before UIC responded with a couple of tough layups on the other end, but despite trailing by six points with just over two minutes until halftime, the Blue Demons can hang their hats on their play down low, an area that has troubled them in recent games.

Currently, DePaul has one more team rebound and 10 second chance points, most recently from Justis Odom’s offensive rebound and made layup, to UIC’s four.

With Shakara McCline going two for two to start the quarter, including a shot from three, the Blue Demons briefly held a 16-14 lad that came after Meg Newman intercepted a full-court pass attempt. UIC fought back with a pair of baskets before McCline converted her second and third layup attempts of the night, pushing her scoring total to a team-high 11 points. DePaul is currently facing a tight 21-20 deficit with five minutes left in the half.

Following a made three-point attempt to extend UIC’s lead, Ally Timm answered with a make of her own from deep, marking her first basket of the night. Forward Michell Ojo then took the game into her own hands with back-to-back trips to the line, where she converted two of her four total attempts, extending her team-high points total to four.

After a strong defensive effort to keep UIC’s offense from in-bounding the ensuing possession, a traveling violation gave the ball back to the home team, who were held scoreless. A buzzer-beating three-point attempt by Shakara McCline was no good, and the Blue Demons find themselves trailing 14-11 at the end of one quarter.

While UIC started the game on a 7-0 run that included a trip to the free throw line and a trio of made layups, DePaul has cut the lead by going on a 6-0 run themselves, punctuated by a Michelle Ojo offensive rebound that she quickly put up for a made basket, her first of the night after starting the game on the bench. UIC made another shot in the paint to stop the streak, and at the game’s first media timeout, the Blue Demons trail 9-6.

With the game set to tip off, the starting lineup for the Blue Demons features guards Gina Davorija, Alayna West, Devin Hagemann and Natiah Nelson, with forward Meg Newman rounding out the first five.

UIC’s starting lineup features guards Samantha Serrano, Tutu Clayton, Sara Zabrecky, forward Julia Coleman and center Magalena Winter.

The Blue Demons are wearing their all-black uniforms with red lettering, while the home team is donning white on white uniforms with blue lettering.