No. 23 women's basketball beats Princeton 78-67

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Entering his team's game at Princeton, DePaul coach Doug Bruno was less concerned about coming off a 23-point loss to Tennessee as with finishing an exhausting stretch of games on a high note.

Despite some signs of weariness, his team responded, as Anna Martin had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists to lead No. 23 DePaul (9-2) past Princeton 78-67 Tuesday night.

"I wasn't worried about the Tennessee loss as much as the fact we played five teams in 10 days," Bruno said. "These are not pros yet and they were put through a pro schedule. That's why it's such an important win for us."

Martin wanted to make up for her 10-point, seven-turnover performance in the loss to Tennessee at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"I wasn't pleased with my game against Tennessee, with finding my teammates and doing the little things," the junior guard said. "So I really tried to improve on that today."

Keisha Hampton led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while Katherine Harry and Brittany Hrynko added 12 apiece.

"My family and coaches were all here," Hampton said. "But I try not to think about that. I just focus on our game plan, execute and do what we have to do to win the game."

Bruno was happy with how Hampton, who was averaging 16.8 points, picked up the slack for Martin, who was averaging 19.1.

"Anna didn't have one of her better scoring nights, and you saw some of Keisha's ability to score," the coach said. "You didn't see Anna's ability to score. You get them both on equal cylinders, it's pretty fun to watch."

Niveen Rasheed had 23 points and a career-high 18 rebounds for Princeton (7-3), which also got 14 points and nine rebounds from Devona Allgood and 10 points apiece from Kate Miller and Lauren Edwards.

The Blue Devils came out sluggish and Princeton led 15-14. The game was tied 17-17 before Martin's driving layup ignited an 18-4 run over the next 6:35. That put DePaul up 35-21 with 2:30 left in the half.

The Blue Demons opened a 39-23 advantage, one of two 16-point leads they had, and were up 14 at halftime.

Princeton got within 46-40, but DePaul responded with an 11-3 run for a 57-43 lead and maintained a comfortable margin throughout. The Blue Devils equaled their largest lead at 65-49 on a Martin 3-pointer with 5:39 remaining.

"After halftime we didn't come out with the intensity and energy we needed," Martin said. "We had a few huddles and said we need a lot more energy than this, and Princeton was playing great ball at the time."

Bruno scheduled the game for the benefit of Hampton, Hrynko and Alexa Gallagher, who are all from nearby Philadelphia.

"This is a huge game," Bruno said. "People don't (like to) play here, and it's a tough place to play."

The two-time defending Ivy League champion Tigers lost their second game to a ranked team, having also fallen to then-No. 24 Delaware.

"I told them after the loss to Delaware that I thought we were babies, and the loss at Navy (two games later) was a residual effect of being sad about our loss to Delaware," Princeton coach Courtney Banghart said. "We asked for a tough schedule, and that means we're going to find out where our holes are, and we can't be babies about it.

"We just have to regroup and hold ourselves accountable, and I thought what we saw tonight was a group of Tigers holding themselves accountable."