No. 18 DePaul women roll past Butler 80-66

INDIANAPOLIS — Lexi Held scored 17 points, Deja Church had a double-double and No. 18 DePaul used strong finishes each quarter to roll to an 80-66 win over Butler on Thursday night.

Sonya Morris scored 17 points for the Blue Demons (9-3, 6-1 Big East Conference) and Church added 13 points, reaching the 1,000 club, with 12 rebounds.

Genesis Parker scored 18 points for Butler (1-10, 1-9), which has lost three straight including a 103-35 decision at No. 3 UConn. Okako Adika added 16, Tenley Dowell 14, a career high, and Jaia Alexander had 12 with 10 rebounds.

The Blue Demons scored the last seven points of the first quarter to take a 17-12 lead. The Bulldogs were seven behind late in the second when DePaul had a 7-0 run for a 41-27 advantage at the break.

The lead reached 16 early in the second half but midway through the third, Butler cut the deficit to nine. The Blue Demons responded with nine straight and later closed the quarter with a 6-0 run for a 65-46 lead.

The lead got as high as 23 and Butler closed the game with a 9-2 run.

Despite shooting 50% in the second half, Butler finished at 41% and had 26 turnovers that were turned into 31 points.

DePaul was scheduled to play Providence at home on Saturday but the Friars have paused play because of coronavirus concerns. The Blue Demons go to Xavier on Monday before playing UConn on Jan. 31.