DePaul Women Fall to No. 7 Kentucky

LEXINGTON, KY- The last time DePaul women's basketball coach Doug Bruno was in Lexington, he did not fare well. Things were not much better for him 40-odd years later.

No. 7/6 Kentucky used an early run and defeated DePaul 96-64 before a record Kentucky women's basketball crowd of 18,488 Friday night at Rupp Arena.

On December 18, 1970 Bruno was playing for the DePaul men's team under coach Ray Meyer at the Kentucky Invitational Tournament. The Blue Demons lost that game to No. 3 Kentucky and Adolph Rupp 106-85.

Bruno said after his team beat Northwestern last weekend that the Kentucky game was going to be "a really tough game for us. [Kentucky] has ten, quick athletic players who are going to press and pick us up 94 feet."

A layup by DePaul's Jasmine Penny tied the score at two. Kentucky then went on a 23-0 run in the game's first six minutes.

"I think the environment got to us, and that is a tribute to the fans," said Bruno. "[Kentucky] had 17 second shot baskets at halftime and I think they were all made by the 7 minute mark of the first half."

"I was very proud of my basketball team after we got shell shocked. At the point of being down 22 points I thought we finally just played basketball. I thought we did some things at that point that are only going to help us get better as the season moves forward.”

"There are not going to be a lot tougher defensive teams for us to play. Kentucky did a great job of jumping us out of the gate."

This was the most points DePaul (6-3) has given up since a 96-60 loss to Stanford on December 13, 2010.

Anna Martin's two three pointers and Jasmine Penny's two field goals helped DePaul go on an 11-0 run to pull to within 40-24 with 6:18 left in the half.

Martin scored her first points on her first shot at 13:09 left in the first half.

The Kentucky native, playing in Rupp Arena for the first time, scored 14 points.

"I had a lot of family and friends here, and my high school team was here, too," said Martin. "I obviously hoped the result would have been different, but our team will learn from this and get better. When I heard the fight song, it was kind of hard for me to not chant along. Once the ball was up, it was game time."

Penny led DePaul with 16 points.

DePaul trailed 51-33 at the half, its largest halftime deficit this year.

The Blue Demons opened the second half shooting 2-13 while Kentucky opened at 7-12.

The Wildcats led 69-43 before last year's Southeastern Conference Player of the Year A'dia Mathies made back to back three-pointers.

Mathies and Martin opposed each other during Martin's sophomore year in high school, with Martin scoring 25 points and her team winning the Kentucky state championship.

DePaul is now 0-3 versus Kentucky, having lost to the Wildcats in 1983 and 1984.

Samarie Walker and DeNesha Stallworth each had double doubles for the Wildcats (7-1).

DePaul returns home to play to play Wisconsin-Milwaukee this Tuesday at noon as part of Field Trip Day.

Notes:

- This was the first ranked team DePaul has played this year.

- DePaul's Deanna Ortiz was in attendance to watch fellow Puerto Rican National team member and Kentucky guard Jennifer O'Neill play.