No. 21/19 women's basketball beats Southern Illinois 93-67, wins 10 of last 11

A strong first half pushed the No. 21/19 DePaul women's basketball team to their fourth consecutive win and 10 wins in their last 11 games with a 93-67 victory over Southern Illinois on Thursday night at McGrath-Phillips Arena.

Anna Martin led five Blue Demons in double-figures with 21 points in a game where she and most of the starters sat in the second half. With Keisha Hampton still out nursing an undisclosed injury, rest was important for DePaul going into the Christmas break.

The game wasn't much of a contest from early on, with the Blue Demons scoring 21 of the game's first 23 points. DePaul, who shot 46 percent (34-73) from the field and 42 percent from three-point range (8-19) for the game, went into the locker room at halftime up 51-18. The second half proved to be much more of a challenge for the home team as SIU outscored them 49-42, but the bench were in most of the time.

"[We're] trying to learn how to maintain intensity when you have a lead [in the second half] has been a challenge for our group and I think it was a challenge tonight," head coach Doug Bruno said.

Martin also acknowledged how tough it can be at times with such a young team, especially with a key player like Hampton on the sidelines.

"It is hard at times for this to not look at the scoreboard," she admitted. "I try to stay as focused as possible to show them that we have to play hard every possession."

Jasmine Penny, Brittany Hrynko, Kelsey Reynolds, and Katherine Harry were the other Blue Demons in double-figures with 15, 14, 12, and 11 points respectively. Harry also added 10 rebounds for second double-double of the season.

"I think it's important that this bench has stepped up," Bruno commented. "I thought Kelsey [Reynolds] gave us a great lift on the bench."

Big East play is on the horizon, but not before the Blue Demons take on Northern Illinois on New Years eve. Bruno began to elaborate, but promptly cut himself off.

"I don't want Northern Illinois to hang anything up in the locker room."