When DePaul takes the court for the Conference USA tournament, the Blue Demons will have some distinct disadvantages.
Despite league scoring leader Lenae Williams and the home-floor edge at the DePaul Athletic Center, the Blue Demons must overcome the injuries that have at times reduced their squad size to what coach Doug Bruno called “six-and-one-half players.”
Also, since 6-foot-4-inch Jamie Smith is DePaul’s only player taller than 6-1, the Demons often have to use a guard to defend against a second tall player in an opponent’s lineup.
Bruno’s DePaul women closed the season with losses in Texas against C-USA’s top two seeds, No. 1 Texas Christian and No. 2 Houston. This tied DePaul with Tulane and Louisville with 8-6 records, but DePaul beat both Tulane and Louisville, so the Demons received the No. 4 seed and the last of the four first-round byes.
“The bye is important,” said Bruno, “because the only way we can make the NCAA tournament is to win this [C-USA] tournament. The bye means we don’t have to try to win four games in four days.”
The tournament, which sends the winner to the NCAA tournament, gets under way with four first-round games Friday. The championship game is at 7 p.m. Monday.
DePaul opens tournament play in a 6 p.m. Saturday quarterfinal against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 5 Tulane and No. 12 UAB.
In either case, the Demons will be at a size disadvantage. Tulane starts two 6-3 players, 17-point scorer Teana McKiver and shot-blocker Gwen Slaughter. However, the extra rest could give injured Blue Demons guard Sarah Kustok time to heal her calf injury.
Bruno is uncertain whether Kustok can play in the tournament. She missed recent games and played briefly in the final two games.
DePaul may be able to dress as many as nine players. That would be a luxury. Against Loyola in November the Demons had only seven in uniform. Two fouled out and two others had four fouls apiece when the game ended in a DePaul victory.
Cincinnati, though seeded No. 3, looks like the strongest team in the field. The Bearcats have a terrific outside-inside combo in guard Valerie King, a 19-point scorer and 44 percent shooter from three-point range, and 6-3 freshman center Debbie Merrill, who averages 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds.
TCU can start a front line of 6-4 Sandora Irvin, 6-2 Kati Safaritova and 6-2 Tiffany Evans. Safaritova hits more than half her shots and averages 14 points.
“We had a great game against DePaul on Friday,” said TCU coach Jeff Mittie. “They spread us, and Lenae Williams’ shooting was fantastic. So was Jenni Dant off the dribble.
“I told my team, `They’re small and we’re big. We have to take advantage of our size.’ And we did.”
Houston also has size as well as an outstanding pair of medium-sized 5-10 stars, Chandi Jones and freshman Shondra Bush.
Jones averaged 22 points and was named C-USA player of the week four times.
