DePaul Sweeps Exhibition Doubleheader

At McGrath Arena tonight, the Blue Demons men’s and women’s basketball teams each defeated their respective opponents in their final exhibition games before the start of the 2009-10 regular season.

DePaul Women Topple Titans in Exhibition Finale

CHICAGO- After falling behind early in their first exhibition game against St. Xavier, the DePaul Blue Demons proved to be quick learners in their exhibition game against the Illinois Wesleyan Titans Friday night at McGrath Arena.

The Demons held Wesleyan to 7% shooting in the game's first 12 minutes and blew out the Titans 93-49 in the final exhibition game for both teams.

"I thought our team was very ready to play tonight defensively and that translated into some great run outs," DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said. "We really did a good job defensively in the first 15 minutes of the game and that is what really opened the [game] up for us."

DePaul freshman Anna Martin's 3-pointer gave DePaul a 27-2 lead with 8:03 left in the first half. Martin led all scorers with 18 points and added five rebounds and three steals to the win.

But all roads in this game led to DePaul's defense.

The Demons had 14 steals, scored 34 points off 28 Wesleyan turnovers, and held the Titans to 27% field goal shooting for the game.

"Felicia [Chester] and Jen Juergens gave us great energy and Sam [Quigley] is getter better, so we are starting to show the potential to be a really good defensive basketball team," Bruno said. "Deirdre [Naughton] is solid and Keisha [Hampton] has the quickness to be really good."

DePaul placed five players in double figures with Juergens scoring 14, Chester tallying 12 in the post and Courtney Webb adding 11 points off the bench. Freshman Katherine Harry recorded her first collegiate double double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

And while DePaul has outscored its two exhibition opponents 204-118, Chester realizes the importance of playing exhibition games.

"These [exhibition] games help us gain that mentality that we have to work every possession and that every possession counts."

Christina Solari led Wesleyan with 12 points.

DePaul opens the regular season against Central Michigan at home on Friday, November 13, at 8:00 CST.

Notes: Wesleyan is ranked #6 in the country in Division III...DePaul shot 93% from the free throw line...DePaul's bench accounted for 46 points.

DePaul Men Demolish University of Chicago in Exhibition Tune-Up

CHICAGO – From the opening tip, the Blue Demons came out on the attack. They aggressively forced 22 Chicago Maroon turnovers with their full court press tonight on their way to a 81-36 exhibition win at McGrath Arena

DePaul jumped out to a 29-2 lead by the 11:31 mark in the first half and never trailed in the contest. The Blue Demons held the Maroons to 27.5% shooting from the field and 19.4% from beyond the arc.

“I thought we were physically bigger, physically stronger,” said DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. “I thought we did what we practiced. We’ve been working hard on our defense. We had great carryover from the Bradley scrimmage.”

The Demons were led by sophomore forward Devin Hill and senior guard Will Walker with 15 points apiece. Hill dropped two three pointers and shot five of nine from the field.

John Bonelli led the way for the Maroons with six points.

In his DePaul debut, sophomore transfer Eric Wallace grabbed nine rebounds and scored eight points.

“I thought he was 1000% better than he was at Bradley,” Wainwright said of Wallace. “He’s got to rebound the basketball. He’s a great athlete.”

Junior center Mac Koshwal finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Walkons Joe Belcaster, Ryan Siggins, and Nate Rogers all scored in the game. The only Blue Demon that didn’t get into the scoring column was sophomore big man Kene Obi.

The Demons were without the services of junior college transfer Mike Stovall, who sat out the game with a mild right ankle sprain.

“We’ve been cautious with it,” Wainwright said. “If it were a conference game, he probably could have played. We’re hoping he might be able to do a little bit tomorrow.”

Stovall’s injury derailed DePaul’s plan to play Walker at point guard, Wainwright opted to go with sophomores Jeremiah Kelly and Michael Bizoukas instead.

“Stovall’s injury kind of busted our rotation,” Jerry said.

Kelly scored eight points and dished out seven of the team’s 16 assists.

The Blue Demons will open regular season play on November 17th at Allstate Arena against the Columbia Lions.