STARKVILLE — The reigning Big East Conference Player of the Year described herself as a role player.
Her head coach saw right through it.
“I always believed (senior guard) Brooke (Schulte) was a scorer. We recruited her to be a scorer,” DePaul women’s basketball coach Doug Bruno said. “One of the unique aspects of her personality and mental makeup, which I really should have understood earlier, but I didn’t get it until (senior guard) Jessica (January) went down, most scorers have a scorer’s ego. They want the ball and they want to shoot. It doesn’t mean they’re selfish, but if you coach scorers, they want the ball.
“Brooke is a service person. It’s very unique to have someone that can score as innately as she does, yet still thinks about serving other people. She’s in nursing. That’s just her makeup.”
On a team that stands out to its next opponent — Northern Iowa — for balance, Schulte has done it. After averaging more than 16 points, six rebounds, and nearly three assists per game, Schulte will lead seventh-seeded DePaul against 10th-seeded Northern Iowa at 11 a.m. Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum.
Schulte didn’t start the season producing at this level. Through 11 games, she averaged 9.7 points and 2.1 assists. Since then, she has scored 20 or more points 12 times, getting as high as 35, and has produced eight double-doubles.
The surge might have been rooted in necessity.
“She had to look herself in the mirror and realize there’s no one left to defer to,” said Bruno said, referring to injuries to junior guard Ashton Millender, Mart’e Grays, and January. Millender was averaging 12.8 ppg. before a shin injury kept her out for the regular season. She hoped to be back in time for the NCAA tournament, but Bruno said Thursday she hasn’t recovered enough to play.
A season-ending injury to Mart’e Grays and a broken finger that cost January most of conference play compounded DePaul’s troubles. But Schulte sparked the Blue Demons, even if she viewed it as a team-based effort. This time, a teammate recognized her impact.
“I think coach instills a really good quote that we will make adversity our best friend,” Schulte said. “We did that as a team. I think not one person chose to put the team on our back, we all came together and kept pushing through.”
Said January, “If you’ve watched any of the games in the conference, she’s been playing phenomenal. This is one of the best scoring years she had, but she’s played like this her entire career. It was really fun to watch her. When I was out, step up as a leader and be the senior captain that she is.”
While Schulte’s offensive production pushed her to conference player of the year honors, her defense has fed a defense that ranks among the nation’s best in rebounding margin and turnover margin.
In that vein, the turnover battle could decide today’s game. Northern Iowa averages 12.1 turnovers per game, while DePaul is one of the nation’s best in forcing turnovers at more than 18 per game.
DePaul has continued the trend against some of the best competition it has faced. Villanova is the best in the nation having committed 9.7 turnovers per game. In two meetings against DePaul, Villanova committed 13 and 17 turnovers. Creighton, which is fifth nationally with 11.9 turnovers per game, committed 19 and 17 against DePaul. Georgetown, the Big East’s third-best team in turnovers, had similar struggles, committing 15 and 16 turnovers against DePaul while averaging fewer than 13 per game.
“We don’t obsess about that,” Bruno said. “We aren’t magically going to turn over Northern Iowa more than they normally do. They turn their opponent over 19 times a game. That’s the aspect we’re more concerned with, taking care of our ball instead of how many times we turn them over.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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