Prior to the Blue Demons matchup against Georgetown, DePaul women’s basketball led the Big East in 3-pointers with 10 per game. On Friday, the Blue Demons hit that mark with 6:43 left in the first half.
Simply put, DePaul’s pace was too much for Georgetown to handle.
Jessica January scored a career-high 26 points, Brittany Hrynko added 18 and Megan Podkowa had 11 as the Blue Demons drained 3-pointers in a 93-52 onslaught at McGrath-Phillips Arena.
The Blue Demons shot 13-30 from beyond the arc, including 10-21 in the first half, en route for the team’s third win in a row.
“The players that I coach when they’re really focused like they were tonight, sometimes make the other team look like they’re not a good team,” DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said. “Georgetown just took (first place Big East team) Seton Hall to overtime less than seven days ago. It’s very important for our players to be ready to play.”
This one was over as soon as it began. DePaul (16-6, 8-2 Big East) opened the game with a 9-0 run in the first few minutes, and it got worse for the Hoyas (4-18, 0-9) from there.
Georgetown, which featured an inexperienced team comprised of a first-year head coach, three new starters and five new players, failed to stop DePaul’s run-and-gun tempo. The Blue Demons forced 22 first half turnovers and 33 total.
Hrynko and January led the Blue Demons on a 20-4 run in the first half, and DePaul went into halftime with a 52-20 lead.
In the second half, the Blue Demons continued their dissection. No play represented that athleticism more than when on a fast break, Hrynko hit January with a behind the pass which January converted for an and-1 opportunity.
“She always make those types of plays so I figured that’s what it was,” January said, which promoted a grin from Hrynko.
No DePaul starter logged more than 22 minutes, and Bruno pulled the group around the 14-minute mark. The rest gave freshmen Ashton Millender, Lauren Prochaska and Mart’e Grays opportunity for more valuable minutes, and the triptook advantage. Millender had a season high 12 points, Grays scored six and Proschaska had four assists.
“You can see the progress that they’re making,” Bruno said. “It’s good to get them some good solid minutes.”
Georgetown was held to just 31 percent shooting while the Blue Demons finished the night at 45 percent. Georgetown guard Dorothy Adomako led her team with 18.
The 41-point win was DePaul’s second biggest margin of victory of the season with the first being Sunday’s win against Providence.
This was the second meeting between the teams with DePaul taking both games. The Blue Demons won 105-85 in the first game on Jan. 4 at Georgetown.
“You can’t come out like you’ve already beaten them,” Hrynko said. “There’s no easy teams in the Big East. If we came out lazy and not ready to play, they probably would have beaten us.
“It’s just always good to come out with energy and ready to play.”
DePaul has a quick turnaround at 2 p.m. Sunday when they face Villanova at McGrath-Phillips Arena.