No. 21/19 women's basketball beats Pitt 86-83

Home cooking, as well as a week off since their last game, proved to be the remedy the DePaul women's basketball team needed as the No. 21/19 Blue Demons downed the Pittsburgh Panthers 86-83 on Saturday night in McGrath-Phillips Arena.

A back-and-forth game from early on, the Blue Demons fought through carrying only eight active players. Seven of them played at least 15 minutes and four played at least 32. Junior Anna Martin lead the team in scoring with 29 points, just a shade off of her season-high 30 against Northern Illinois.

"It could have gone either way, and I'm proud of our magnificent seven," head coach Doug Bruno commented on the short rotation of players due to the rash of injuries to the team. "[They] hunkered down and were able to get this very important home court win."

Rebounding and three-point shooting were key for DePaul against Pitt, as the Blue Demons shot 41 percent (12-of-29) behind the arc and outrebounded the Panthers 37-31.

"I really went into the game focusing on rebounding because we haven't done too well this season on the boards," Martin said. She finished the game with a career-high nine rebounds. "I just wanted to play my game."

And play her game she did. Even as the Blue Demons went into the locker room at halftime up by two, Pittsburgh had shot the lights out in the first half, going 17-of-30. Martin kept them in the game with 14 points and hit the last jumper of the half to put DePaul in the lead.

"I do try to be a leader and I try to do it leading by example," Martin acknowledged.

But she couldn't do it all by herself. And on a night when she would need all the help she could get, she found an unexpected source off the bench in freshman guard Megan Rogowski. Doug Bruno declared earlier in the day she couldn't wait until September to play like a sophomore, and tonight she shot 5-of-11 from three-point range and finished the game with 15 points.

"It's starting to flow more and make more sense," Rogowski admitted about adjusting to the tempo of college basketball. "And everything's working out nice and I'm understanding the game a lot more after being in it for half a season."

DePaul built a lead as large as 12 with 6:07 to go in the second half but saw Pitt close that lead all the way down to one with under two minutes remaining. The defense tightened up for the remainder of the game and Martin calmly sank two free throws with 19 seconds remaining to seal the deal for the Blue Demons.

Jasmine Penny and Brittany Hrynko were the other two Blue Demons to record double-digit points with 13 and 11 points respectively. Katherine Harry tied Martin in the game with a team-high nine rebounds.

"This game tonight is exactly what we're going to be looking at for the remainder of the Big East season," Bruno said, acknowledging that after Notre Dame and UConn, the rest of the conference is really a toss-up.

Tonight's game also had special meaning because it was Autism Awareness night. Alpha Xi Delta sorority teamed up with the Chicago Chapter of Autism Speaks to make the night possible. The meaning of the night was so special that it made Bruno tear up in the post-game press conference as he answered a question about it.