Martin, Hrynko Help DePaul Hold Off Princeton

CHICAGO- DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno must have had a sense of back to the future at the start of tonight’s game against Princeton.

Anna Martin scored 15 of her 20 points in the second half on her way to breaking more scoring records at DePaul and Brittany Hrynko added 21 points as the Blue Demons defeated the Tigers 86-75 Friday night.

DePaul played with seven players for most of last year. The Blue Demons dressed just seven players tonight and because of that, had three players log 35 minutes or more.

And Martin, due to foul trouble, was not one of them.

The Tigers never led in the game and DePaul had its biggest first half lead, 11, at the break. Hrynko’s 12 first half points were offset by Martin’s two fouls, and Megan Podkowa, recently returned from an upper respiratory condition, had three first half fouls.

The Tigers, 24-5 and NCAA Tournament qualifiers last year, got a team-high 21 points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Niveen Rasheed.

“Princeton is a really talented team,” said Bruno. “I believe they will make the NCAA Tournament whether they win the Ivy League or not.”

“[Rasheed] is a very talented player and she would be an All-Big East player if she played in the Big East and I think she would start for every team in the Big East.”

The Blue Demons (10-3) had their biggest lead of the game at 64-49 on a layup by Hrynko with 9:42 to play.

The Tigers countered with an 8-0 run.

Four points by Martin and a three-pointer by Hrynko then pushed DePaul up 73-59.

Princeton (7-5) then went on another 8-0 run and was down 73-67 with 3:39 left.

Martin, playing with three fouls, then converted a three-point play off an assist from Jasmine Penny (13 points and seven rebounds).

DePaul shot 8-8 from the line in the final 1:24 to secure the win.

Martin described her team’s mentality over the final three minutes.

“Princeton was really making it hard for us to score. Everything we got we had to work extremely hard for. At that point in the game we needed to make stops, not foul, and to rebound.”

Martin moved past Mfon Udoka and into twelfth place and she is now tied with Keisha Hampton for the eleventh spot for all-time scoring at DePaul.

Notes

- DePaul shot a season-high 91 percent (21-23) from the line.