Budde drops 38 in DPU win

DePauw sophomore Emily Budde poured in 38 points including 22 in the first half and led the Tigers to an 87-60 win over Millikin in the home opener at Neal Fieldhouse Wednesday.

The Tigers, ranked 24th in the latest coaches' poll, improved to 4-2, while the Big Blue dropped to 4-3.

Budde's 38 was the second-best performance in DePauw women's history, surpassed only by Jenny Bauer's school-record 40 against Huntington on February 2, 1985. She also equaled the school mark with eight three-pointers.

DePauw fell behind 6-0 in the opening 1:39, but the Tigers took off from there as Budde scored the team's first eight points to give the hosts the lead for good. The Tigers scored the final nine points of the opening quarter to take a 33-16 lead. DePauw shot 60 percent from the floor in the stanza including a sizzling 7-of-11 from three-point range for a sizzling 63.6 percent.

The Tigers kept that pace up in the early stages of the second quarter as they extended the lead to as many as 24 at 42-18 after Melinda Franke's jumper. The Big Blue trimmed the lead to 11 before DePauw pushed it back to 50-33 at the intermission.

Millkin battled back in the third quarter as Alyssa Saklak scored nine and Alex Capeles five in a 14-2 run over the first 3:59 of the period. The margin was still five at 57-52 with three minutes remaining in the quarter, but the Tigers closed with 10 straight to push the lead to 67-52 as the teams headed to the final quarter.

DePauw sealed the victory by scoring the first 13 points of the fourth with Budde scoring seven and Claire Ryan adding four coming directly off her steals. Franke's layup with 5:50 remaining capped the 23-0 run and gave the Tigers an 80-52 lead.

Budde knocked down 15-of-24 field goals and 8-of-12 from three-point range. Ryan added career-highs of 14 points and six steals and dished out five assists, while Budde and Morgan Skordos each grabbed six rebounds.

Saklak paced Millikin with 24 points with Capeles adding 12. Saklak, Capeles and Hoyer each snagged five boards.

DePauw shot 50 percent from the floor to Millikin's 36.8 percent and the Tigers knocked down 12-of-23 three-pointers. DePauw held a 33-27 edge on the boards and committed just 11 turnovers to the Big Blue's 23. The Tigers led, 31-9, in points off turnovers.

The Tigers open North Coast Athletic Conference play on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game at Wooster.