DePaul women enjoy rout: DEPAUL 86, WIS.-GREEN BAY 62

Wisconsin-Green Bay had the unenviable task of playing a DePaulwomen's team coming off a loss. And the Blue Demons took out somefrustrations on the visiting Phoenix.

Ending a week that saw DePaul get its highest ranking ever in theAssociated Press poll at No. 11, the Blue Demons stormed back from anovertime loss at South Florida on Wednesday to smash the Phoenix 86-62 on Saturday at the DePaul Athletic Center.

In the first half, DePaul (8-1) did just about everything right.The Blue Demons were 18-for-29 shooting (62 percent), had a 23-10rebounding advantage and were 11-for-11 from the free-throw line.

And All-America forward Khara Smith, who made four free throws andhad eight rebounds at the break, had taken only one shot.

"Every coach has things that are emphasized, and one of his [GreenBay's Kevin Borseth] is never to get beat by a post player," DePaulcoach Doug Bruno said. "We told Khara she would have to get hers offthe boards, and she was very effective in the first half withoutscoring. But they also give things up, and they couldn't stop ourtransition."

Trailing 7-6, the Blue Demons scored nine in a row in a span of1:25 and never looked back. Two free throws by Smith started theburst. Then Jenna Rubino made a steal and layup before nailing athree-pointer off a pass from Allie Quigley. Ciara Johnson capped therun with a layup off a pass from Rubino.

"We played our game and we played with energy," Rubino said. "Weknow what we are capable of. And it's a lot more fun to learn fromwinning than losing.

"We needed to come together, and it showed in the first fiveminutes. We can't be complacent and have to compete every single tripdown the floor."

Late in the half, DePaul turned a 10-point lead into a rout withan 18-2 run in the last 8:08 to close the half with a 49-23 lead.Seven players scored in the run, with Johnson and Caprice Smith bothscoring four points.

Rubino led DePaul with 18 points, Quigley had 14 and both KharaSmith (12 rebounds) and Caprice Smith scored 10. It was Khara Smith's61st career double-double and her seventh this season.

Nicole Soulis scored 19 for the Phoenix (5-3).

"We had so much more energy tonight," Bruno said. "I hate to haveit [a loss] happen in the Big East. And we knew we had to be ready toplay because if you're not, Green Bay will seize the opportunity.Tonight, we used our depth."

It was the first meeting between the teams since November 1996.Last season, Green Bay was 27-4 and made the NCAA tournament as theHorizon League champion.

stucker@suntimes.com