The Standard

Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Bazil Manietta

A 3-to-22 assist-to-turnover ratio sunk the Lady Bears on Sunday against 17th-ranked De-Paul. The game turned into a blowout in the second half as DePaul took a 30-22 halftime lead and extended it to an 80-48 final score.

Assistant coach Carly Stubblefield said in the pregame radio show that the team had been working on not turning the ball over in practice.

"We only had 13 turnovers last game," Stubblefield said. "We've been handling the ball better."

But DePaul's defense bottled up the Missouri State offense, which is now averaging 21.2 turnovers per game after the loss. During the postgame radio show, head coach Nyla Milleson said DePaul was even better than the Texas team the Lady Bears played earlier in the season.

"DePaul is a great team," Milleson said. "They're the best team we've played all season."

Stubblefield said the team had also been working on rebounding in practice.

"We've been putting heart into (our rebounding)," Stubblefield said. "(There has been) focus in practice on rebounding and getting hands in the air."

And Missouri State's work on rebounding has paid off. No team has outrebounded the Lady Bears until Sunday. DePaul became the first team to beat the Lady Bears on the glass with a 61-43 edge. DePaul also grabbed 26 offensive rebounds.

The 61 Blue Demon rebounds allowed DePaul to shoot 82 field goals, including 7-for-13 shooting and 20 points from Deirdre Naughton. Naughton shot 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and she lead all scorers.

Missouri State scored the first basket of the second half, cutting the Blue Demon lead to 30-24, but that was as close as the Lady Bears would get. Missouri State shot 22 percent from the field in the second half and 26 percent for the game, a season low.

"It's all confidence," Stubblefield said. "It doesn't help that we've started 0-5. It's tough for everybody. Once you start missing shots, your head starts to drag."

After the game, Milleson said the frustration of losing was getting to the entire team.

"Everyone is kind of tired of the speech," Milleson said. "There isn't any reason to scream and yell with the kind of effort they gave today. But at the same time, they want to win, and it hurts."

Milleson said her players ne-ver quit, but the record of the team left much to be desired.

Continued...

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