Women's basketball improves to 5-1 with win over Northwestern

The DePaul Women's Basketball team defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 88-72 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday. The Blue Demons improved to 5-1 for the season while previously unbeaten Northwestern fell to 4-1 in front of a crowd over 1,000.

DePaul senior Keisha Hampton had a career best 32 points on 9 of 23 shooting from the field and was a perfect 12 of 12 from the line. Hampton and Junior guard Anna Martin combined for 53 of DePaul's 88 points. Simply put, they were unstoppable.

Northwestern's size advantage was of little help against a faster and better conditioned DePaul team. It was a tightly contested game until the final five minutes when the Blue Demons shifted into high gear and left the Wildcats panting in the rearview mirror.

The Wildcats were coming off of a road upset of the LSU Lady Tigers last Tuesday. DePaul currently is No. 23 nationally in the AP Poll and No.20 in the Coaches Poll. Sunday's game marked the 29th meeting between the two teams and the series was evenly split at 14 games apiece. The Blue Demons have now won 12 of the last 13 meetings.

DePaul Coach Doug Bruno said the victory should prove "huge for our confidence going forward. You've got to get these tough victories on the road." He also said he was pleased with the team's performance despite a "number of youthful faux pas."

The Blue Demons are a perimeter shooting team and combined for 12-25 from beyond the arc against Northwestern. Coach Bruno said they'll have to "get stronger" inside and get more points in the paint as the season progresses. He also said it's been tough not having Freshman Chanise Jenkins and a few other players available due to injury.

DePaul faces Loyola-Chicago next on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at McGrath-Phillips Arena. The Blue Demons have a .866 winning percentage at home.