In Battle of Chicago, No. 20 DePaul destroys Chicago State

Chicago, IL -- The DePaul Blue Demons (4-1, 0-0 Big East) rebounded from their first loss of the season with a 88-42 victory over the Chicago State Cougars (0-5, 0-0 WAC) on Tuesday night.

It's been over 35 years since Chicago State came away with a win versus DePaul. The Blue Demons are undefeated at McGrath-Phillips Arena and have now won 11 straight against Chicago State.

"It's not an easy game. Because we're coming off the high of playing Baylor and you have to come back and play Chicago State at home. The swing of emotion for your players is very different," head coach Doug Bruno said. "We weren't perfect by any stretch but we fixed them on the fly."

After losing to no. 5 Baylor in the WNIT Championship on Sunday, DePaul looked to rebound against their cross-town foe.

Senior Megan Podkowa found her shooting stroke early - scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing 5 rebounds- yet it was guards Chanise Jenkins and Jessica January pacing the Blue Demons on offense.

January, a junior out of Richfield, Minnesota, had her best game of the season thus far - accounting for 14 points and a career-high 10 assists. Jenkin's who was on the receiving end of many of January's assists, finished with 13 points.

"We want to use every opportunity we have to get better," January said. "To start the game we focused on getting to a quick and efficient start and to use our defense to get fast-breaks. My teammates did a really good job of getting open and it made it really easy for me to get them the ball."

Bruno's squad moved the ball with ease for most of the night and in the third quarter blew open the game with a 30-point lead.

Podkowa was allowed to rest for much of the second half. In her place, forward Brandi Harvey-Carr played well and contributed 14 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.

The Cougars run early and often but couldn't maintain control of the ball in transition. Chicago State committed 32 turnovers - more than half came in the first half alone. Head coach Angela Jackson's squad also had trouble scoring the ball -- the Cougars shot just 30% from the field.

DePaul played well enough against an inferior opponent however; they're still enamored with shooting three's. Other than Podkowa - who finished 3-of-4 from long distance - the Blue Demons shot just 28% from three.

The Blue Demons will have a few days rest for the Thanksgiving break before facing off against Colgate on Nov. 27.