Another weekend, another big win for the Saint Louis University women’s basketball team.
After defeating No. 20 Tulane two weeks ago, the Billikens downed DePaul 50-48 last Sunday after losing to Marquette 65-50 last Friday.
SLU is off to its best start in Conference USA history with a 3-2 record in the league. The Billikens are tied for fourth place in C-USA.
SLU raced out to a 12-4 lead by hitting five of their first eight shots. The Blue Demons responded with a 15-1 run and seized a 19-13 lead. DePaul was able to maintain its six-point lead through the first half and led 30-24.
SLU hit 40 percent of their shots and was 6-11 from the charity stripe. Even though DePaul led at the intermission, the Blue Demons shot 38 percent from the field and were 1-5 from three-point range.
The Billikens trailed for most of the second half, except for the time that counted.
Their defense was the difference, as the Billikens held the Blue Demons to 18 points in the second half on 8-33 shooting.
The Billikens took their first lead of the half with 48 seconds left in the game. Sophomore guard Kirsti Holloway hit a jumper in the lane for a 48-46 lead.
DePaul answered with a pair of free throws from Jenni Dant that tied the game at 48.
Junior guard Christan Shelton hit the final hoop of the game with 25.9 seconds left to give SLU a 50-48 win.
Lenae Williams driving shot failed to find the bottom of the net. Junior guard Melissa Oliver pulled down the rebound and was fouled. She missed the front end of a one-and-one, and DePaul had a final shot.
Sarah Kustok took a deep jumper at the buzzer that missed long. The loss was the Blue Demon’s first in C-USA, as they fell to 4-1 and 11-7 overall.
SLU shot 42 percent from the field and was 14-21 from the line. DePaul managed to shoot only 21-67 from the field and was a dismal 1-12 from behind the three-point arc.
Williams, DePaul’s leading scorer, only scored 12 points on 6-21 shooting, nine points below her average.
Shelton led the Billikens off the bench with 15 points. Sophomore forward Angie Lewis led the Billikens on the boards with eight. Junior guard Star Jackson dished out six assists.
“I was impressed with our ability to come back after the Marquette game,” said coach Jill Pizzotti. “We had a good practice Saturday and jumped out to a 12-4 lead early. We held Lenae Williams to 12 points. Melissa Oliver started on her, but Greta Bujaker, Christan Shelton and Jana Haywood took turns and they got help from other kids. We did a bang-up job on the defensive end of the floor.”
Last Friday, the Marquette Golden Eagles defeated SLU 65-50 on the campus of Wisconsin Lutheran College because of arena conflicts.
The Billikens jumped out to a 12-2 lead early, as the Golden Eagles missed nine of their first 10 shots.
But Marquette battled back and took a 26-20 lead into the locker room.
SLU failed to score in the final seven minutes of the first half. Despite shooting only 27 percent from the field, the Golden Eagles tallied 14 points in the paint and 11 points off turnovers. Marquette’s bench chipped in with 17 points in the half.
Marquette continued their hot shooting and had a 10-0 point lead just one minute into the second half.
Marquette was able to build its lead to 15 points and maintained it through the rest of the game.
Three Billikens reached double-figures in scoring. Haywood and Lewis both scored 12, and junior guard Harmonie King tallied 11. Lewis grabbed 10 boards for her sixth double-double of the season.
“We got off to a great start and were up 12-2,” Pizzotti said. “We had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but then we had a hard time scoring. We had six points in the final seven minutes of the first half and didn’t score in the last seven minutes of the game. We weren’t able to dig ourselves out of the hole we were in. Marquette’s a talented team. They’re in second place in the conference. We’ve always had a hard time against them.”
The Billikens look to continue their hot start when they battle the Memphis Lady Tigers this Sunday, 3 p.m. at The Pyramid.
The Lady Tigers are 8-10 and 2-3 in C-USA. Memphis beat the Billikens in St. Louis on Jan. 6. Princess Swilley led Memphis with 17 points.
“Last time we played, they beat us by eight. We know that they can compete. We have a sense that we’ll get this back,” Pizzotti said. “Memphis is physical and gets up the floor. They press you 94 feet and when they get the ball, they push it up the floor.”
