2012-13 DEPAUL WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Chicago Bears
Of the over 1,200 players to play for the Chicago Bears since 1920, seven of them played football at DePaul. Charles Apolskis (1938-39), JB Bonderant (1922), Art Bramhall (1931), Chester “Chet” Chesney (1939-40), Tom Roberts (1943-44), Dick Stahlman (1933) and Dick Sturtridge (1928-29) all suited up for the Bears for at least one career game.
Colors
DePaul’s official school colors are royal blue and scarlet. The PMS colors are 285 (blue) and 186 (red).
Conference Player of the Year
The Blue Demons have had five players earn Conference Player of the Year honors. Sally Anderson was the North Star Conference Player of the Year in 1986-87 while Diana Vines won the same award in both the 1987-88 and 198889 campaigns. Tammy Williams won the Great Midwest Conference Player of the Year in 1992-93 while Latasha Byears followed her two seasons later. In 1996-97, Kim Williams won the award in Conference USA.
Conference USA
The Blue Demons played 10 seasons in Conference USA from 1995-2005. DePaul captured the inaugural women’s basketball regular season title in 199596 while the Blue Demons hosted the women’s basketball tournament in 1997 and 2002. The Blue Demons closed their run in C-USA by winning both the league championship and the Team Academic Award.
Europe
The Blue Demons ventured over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in August of 2000 when Doug Bruno’s squad spent 12 days playing exhibition games in Austria, Italy and Slovenia. The Blue Demons returned in 2010, when it participated in the St. Vincent de Paul Heritage tour in France, Aug. 14-24.
Exposure
The DePaul women’s basketball program has gained tremendous television exposure under Doug Bruno. Since 1988-89, the Blue Demons have appeared on national television with games being shown on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ComcastSportsNet Chicago, Prime and Fox Sports Net. DePaul has also made numerous appearances on FSN Chicago. This upcoming season has DePaul slated for six regular-season national television appearances. The Blue Demons play three games on ESPNU, a pair on CBS Sports Network and open their conference slate against Louisville on the BIG EAST Network’s Game of the Week.
FIBA World Championship
In October 2010, Blue Demon coach Doug Bruno helped the USA National Women’s Basketball team to the FIBA World Championships in the Czech Republic. Bruno served as an assistant coach under head coach Geno Auriemma. Jennifer Gillom of the WNBA Minnesota Lynx and Marynell Meadors of the Atlanta Dream also served as assistants for the 2010 World Championship Team.
Jenni Dant
Jenni Dant led the Blue Demons to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and over 85 victories in her career. The 5-10 guard finished her career among all-time leaders in free throws (459-2nd), free throw attempts (597-3rd), steals (269-3rd), assists (343-5th), games played (122-t5th), scoring (1,633 points-6th), field goal attempts (1,305-6th), three-point field goals (110-9th), three-point attempts (348-9th) and free throw percentage (.769-t10th). As a senior, she was a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award for the nation’s top point guard and earned All-Conference USA honors in each of her four seasons. She is the only student-athlete in women’s basketball history to finish her career with at least 1,600 points, 300 assists and 250 steals.
Four Conference Tournament Titles
DePaul has won four conference tournament titles. The Blue Demons captured North Star titles in 1989 and 1991 and won the Great Midwest title in 1992 and 1993. In the other six years that DePaul didn’t win the title, it has reached the championship game twice and the semifinals four times. Overall, DePaul is 25-18 (.581) in conference tournament play.
France
The Blue Demons embarked on the Saint Vincent de Paul heritage trail, Aug. 14-24, 2010 and traveled to Paris, Normandy, Perpignan, Nice and Monaco to trace the steps of DePaul’s patron saint. While in France, the Blue Demons played and won four exhibition games. The tour was preceded by a Summer II class which familiarized the Blue Demons about St. Vincent.
Maggie Dixon
Maggie Dixon served as an assistant coach at DePaul from 2001-05 before accepting the head coaching position at the U.S. Military Academy in the Fall of 2005. Dixon passed away in April 2006 after leading Army to the first NCAA Championship appearance in school history. The Blue Demons wore a honorary patch on the 2006-07 and 2007-08 uniforms honoring Dixon and DePaul legend Ray Meyer. In 2009, DePaul renamed its tournament to honor its former assistant coach.
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