March 21--SOUTH BEND -- The holes that the DePaul women's basketball team dug itself into kept getting deeper and deeper.
The Blue Demons were down by eight early in the game, 11 at halftime and 15 early in the second half.
But they clawed themselves out repeatedly with relentless defense that helped cause 28 turnovers, finally emerging with a 79-72 win over Minnesota in Friday's first round game of the NCAA tournament at Notre Dame.
The 9th-seeded Blue Demons (27-7), winners in 14 of their last 15 games, go on Sunday to meet the winner of Friday's nightcap between the No. 1 seed Irish and No. 16 Montana.
Horrific early three-point shooting buried DePaul in a game when it needed outside scoring against much bigger Minnesota, especially since the Gophers played mainly zone defense.
The Blue missed their first 10 three-point attempts and made just 2 of 20 in the first half.
That turned that around in the second half, thanks largely to Megan Podkowa hitting all three attempts after going 0-for-5 before intermission,
Podkowa finished with 23 points.
Amanda Zahui B, the Gophers' 6-5 center, had 21 points and 22 rebounds, her 24th double-double of the season. But she also made seven turnovers.
Eighth-seeded Minnesota finished 23-10.
