Women's basketball set to open up Big East play against St. John's

The women's basketball team's most recent game, a 70-65 win over cross-town rival Loyola Chicago, was a bit of an anomaly. Eking out a mere five point victory, DePaul's play was marred by a surprisingly poor shooting performance, yet was bailed out by their signature pressure defense and capitalizing on the opposition's turnovers.

Led by a game-high 27 points by junior Anna Martin, the Blue Demons (6-1) shot a paltry 32.4 percent (24-74) on the game. Sophomore Jasmine Penny was the only other DePaul player in double-figures, scoring a career-high 16 points off the bench.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Blue Demons forced the Ramblers to turn the ball over 22 times and racked up 15 steals, and finished with 25 points scored off turnovers. Brittany Hrynko and Katherine Harry each had four steals, with Martin and Penny grabbing three each.

Perhaps home court advantage was just enough for the Demons to escape with the win, who extended their McGrath-Phillips Arena winning streak to 22 games. Moving forward, however, should the Blue Demons return to their typical productive scoring affairs, they shouldn't need to rely on a home crowd to help them to comfortable wins.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, DePaul will attempt to prove just that, as they open Big East Conference play against St. John's (5-3). Dubbed "Field Trip Day," the Noon contest at McGrath-Phillips Arena will host Chicagoland elementary students as part of DePaul Athletics' service project, which provides local kids a glimpse of college life around campus.

While both teams enter the game on win streaks (St. John's at three games, DePaul at four), the Blue Demons should be the ones to keep theirs alive, opening their conference schedule with a bang.

The team's laudable play on both sides of the ball are proof of this sentiment. The Blue Demons are outscoring their opponents 86.1 to 67.6 points per game, shooting a respectable 44.4 percent from the field, and 38.1 percent from three-point range. In a superlative start to the '11-12 campaign, Martin leads the Big East in scoring at 21.9 points per game, with star Keisha Hampton scoring at a steady clip of 17.9 points per game.

Despite all of their accomplishments thus far, DePaul will still need to maintain a sense of urgency and focus in their upcoming games, without getting too complacent with early leads, which they are certainly used to having. With the Big East Conference schedule underway, the Blue Demons are hoping to have at least a repeat of last season's Sweet Sixteen bid and their 13-3 conference record.

Head out on your own field trip Wednesday afternoon, joining the Chicagoland elementary students that will be in attendance to take in the Blue Demons' first conference game of the season against St. John's.