DePaul’s ‘fun ride’ ends in NCAA women’s tournament

No matter how far you come, no matter how unexpectedly successful a basketball season has been, the end always hurts when it comes in a postseason tournament.

So every player in the DePaul locker room had tears in her eyes after the Blue Demons lost to Duke 70-63 in the NCAA regional semifinals Sunday afternoon at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

“You never want to experience the crash and burn in this beautiful tournament,” coach Doug Bruno said. “But this was the best team and best group of young women I’ve ever been around.”

The Blue Demons were picked to finish sixth in the Big East and wound up second. They had the best regular-season record of Bruno’s 25 DePaul teams. They had the most wins, 29, in school history and, in late February, reached their highest point ever, seventh, in the national polls. They beat their highest-ranked opponent ever, No. 2 Stanford. They made the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight year.

The one thing left unwritten in the record books was becoming the first DePaul team to make the tournament’s Elite Eight.

The chance to do that slipped away when the Blue Demons (29-7) got sloppy with the ball over the final 13 minutes of the first half, as their eight turnovers and several rushed shots allowed Duke to go on a 29-12 run and build a 15-point lead.

“We just got careless,” senior Felicia Chester said. “Unforced turnovers. Not taking quality shots.”

DePaul chipped away at the deficit, pulling within four with 2 minutes, 54 seconds to go and finally within three twice in the final 50 seconds as Deirdre Naughton hit consecutive 3-pointers. But the Blue Demons never got a shot at a tying basket.

“Getting that close speaks volumes about this team,” senior guard Sam Quigley said. “We never stopped fighting.”

Naughton, the sixth man and sixth-year player from New Trier, led the team’s scoring with 17.

Minus the reliable rebounding of 6-foot-2 junior Taylor Pikes, injured in the second-round win over Penn State, the Blue Demons had no answer for Duke (32-3) on the offensive glass. Duke scored 40 points in the paint, 16 on second chances from 19 offensive rebounds.

They also didn’t have a defensive answer for 6-0 forward Karina Christmas, who hit a season-high 23 points as the Blue Devils moved into the Elite Eight for the 10th time. They meet top-ranked Connecticut in Tuesday’s regional final.

The tears were dry when the DePaul players talked with the press. The pain was replaced by perspective.

“It has been an inspirational, amazing season,” Naughton said. “And a fun ride.”

phersh@tribune.com