DePauw romps Denison 63-38

Wednesday, January 8, 2014
DePauw junior Savannah Trees drives at Denison sophomore Jordan Holmes to score a layup in the first half on Wednesday. (Banner Graphic/GRANT WIEMAN)

For a team that's been ranked No. 1 continuously since early last season, it's a nearly impossible task to live up to expectations. Playing every game like they're the best team in the country is a burden the Tigers have been reluctant to accept.

They lived up to it Wednesday. The DePauw women's basketball team played its best, most complete game of the season and knocked up North Coast Athletic Conference rival Denison 63-38.

It pushed the two-season win streak for DPU (13-0, 4-0 NCAC) to 47 games, the longest in the nation for any team at any level of college basketball.

"I thought we had a great defensive effort in the first half; good ball pressure and good intensity," DPU coach Kris Huffman said. "Denison is a good defensive team."

The Tigers, undersized in the post, particularly for an elite team, were expecting a significant challenge from Denison's 6-1 freshman Jordan Holmes, who entered the game averaging 14.5 rebounds, second-best in the country at Division III.

Holmes had three rebounds against DePauw, by far the lowest of her career.

"Our posts are really great at boxing out and getting position," DePauw junior Hannah Douglas said. "We were all really focused on making sure we were getting great position."

Douglas, a perimeter player, had five rebounds and seven points for DPU, helping chip in on the boards for the outsized front.

The Tigers built a slight early lead in the first half before expanding it to 33-14 at the break with a 15-4 run.

Douglas scored all seven of her points before halftime.

Junior Savannah Trees, who led DPU with 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting, had nine before the break.

DePauw's defense was the most dominant it has been this season. It allowed Denison (11-3, 3-2 NCAC) to shoot just 28 percent in the first half (7-for-25) and forced 24 turnovers in the game.

The host Tigers mixed in more zone defense than is typical, and also expanded its full court pressure to include more players than guard Ali Ross, which is typically their strategy.

"I do it in practice sometimes and today the coaches told me at one point to take the girl up top and let Ali take one of the other girls," Douglas said. "I'm always up for a defensive challenge like that.

"... Usually Ali is up there and I know she's working hard getting all those steals. It's pretty intense up there. I was trying to keep up with them. Ali Ross has some pretty quick feet."

Ross had five steals, to go along with 12 points and three assists.

By the midway point of the second half, carrying a 20 point lead, DPU started focusing on working the clock each possession and expanded it by getting offensive rebounds from Douglas and Ross.

Ross led the Tigers with six boards in the game and Douglas, a transfer in her first season at DPU, had five.

"The coaches have been talking to me about becoming a more aggressive rebounder," Douglas said. "I had that ability and I did that at Butler (last season) but I haven't been focusing on it that much because I was still working things in.

"They've been talking to me a lot about it in practice so I made that a big focus today."

DPU claimed a 33-29 advantage in rebounds in the game but its defense slipped a bit in the second half, which gave Huffman something to harp on to her players.

"We had some slippage in the second half and didn't finish the game as well as we'd like to," Huffman said. "We'd like to up our rebounding margin. Rebounding is such a key part of our game and we're just not as consistent there as we need to be."

DePauw is off until Saturday when it plays at Kenyon at 1 p.m. Its next home game is Wednesday when it plays Wittenberg at 8 p.m. as part of a double-header with the men's team.

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  • This team is so much fun to watch. They are playing basketball the way it was meant to be played. If you are a basketball fan, you really should take in one (or all) of the remaining home games.

    -- Posted by lunamaximus on Thu, Jan 9, 2014, at 10:55 PM
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