DePaul Repeats As BIG EAST Women's Basketball Tournament Champions
March 11, 2015
FINAL STATS| QUOTES - DePAUL |QUOTES - SETON HALL
By Jack McCarthy
Special BIGEAST.com
ROSEMONT, Ill., -- Seton Hall's hopes for a season sweep of DePaul started to unravel early in Tuesday's BIG EAST championship game.
The Blue Demons started fast and kept the Pirates at arm's length the rest of the way in a dominating 78-68 victory in Tuesday's title game at Allstate Arena.
Megan Podkowa scored 19 points and earned Most Outstanding Player honors as DePaul (26-7) avenged two regular season losses and clinched the BIG EAST's automatic entry into the NCAA tournament.
"We weren't as focused the two times we played them," Podkowa said. "Our defense wasn't there and our rebounding wasn't there. So I think we all really came in ready to play and ready to rebound and defend against them tonight."
Ka-Deidre Simmons had a game-high 23 points while Tiffany Jones added 14 for No. 24 Seton Hall (28-5), which also appears likely to make the NCAA field when pairings are announced next Monday.
"DePaul is known for their offense and they're one of the best offensive teams in the country, but their defense won the game today, clearly," said `Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella. "They came out, they defended better than I've seen them play in all the games I've watched, and their experience showed.
"Clearly they outplayed us today, this was their day."
DePaul guard Chanise Jenkins scored 16 points and was named all-tournament, Centrese McGee had 14 while BIG EAST player of the Year Brittany Hrynko added 12 points and nine assists.
Podkowa had team-leading double figure effort for the second straight game. The junior forward had 22 points and 10 rebounds in Monday's semifinal win over Villanova.
Podkowa had seven early points while McGee had a pair of 3-pointers as DePaul sprinted to a 15-3 lead in the first 4:36.
Seton Hall chipped away and turned it into a seven-point game when Tabatha Richardson-Smith's drive cut the deficit to 26-19.
The Pirates cut the lead to four late in the half but Brooke Schulte's layup just before halftime pushed the lead to 35-29.
DePaul started the second half with a 13-2 run that pushed their lead to 17 at 48-31 after Podkowa's second 3-pointer of the half at the 16:18 mark. The second half lead never fell under 10 points after that.
DePaul was 28-for-51 (54.9 percent) for the game and 9-for-23 (39.1 percent) on 3-point shooting. Seton Hall was 25-for-49 (42.4 percent).
Simmons and Jenkins were also named all-tournament team along with St. John's Aliyyah Handford, Marquette's Arlesia Morse and Villanova's Caroline Coyer.
Seton Hall and DePaul tied for the BIG EAST regular season title but the Pirates secured the No. 1 seed thanks to two regular season wins over the Blue Demons, including a 107-87 triumph on Jan. 18 that set a school record for most points scored.
The Blue Demons entered the game second in the nation in scoring offense (87.1 points) and 3-pointers (10.5).
Both averages took a slight hit after Monday's 58-55 semifinal victory over Villanova, DePaul's second lowest-scoring game of the season.
But on Monday the Blue Demons nearly matched the season average, going 9-for-23 on 3-point tries while falling nine points short of their season average.