CHICAGO — Top seed DePaul started fast and never looked back on the way to a 76-49 BIG EAST quarterfinals victory over Butler on Sunday at McGrath-Phillips Arena.

Forward Megan Podkowa scored 14 points and guard Jessica January added 10 as the two-time defending conference tournament champions (25-7) reached Monday's semifinals and a date with either St. John's or Georgetown.

Tori Schickel scored 14 points while Sydney Buck added 10 for the No. 9 seed Bulldogs (10-21).

DePaul opened with a flurry of 3-pointers as four different players hit from beyond the arc en route to a 12-2 lead. The Blue Demons extended the advantage to 23-11 by the quarter's end after hitting 5-of-11 on 3-pointers.

Eight players had already scored as DePaul pushed the lead to 20 points at 31-11 with 5:47 left in the half. By halftime it was 39-19 with Podkowa's 11 leading the way.

The Bulldogs trimmed the deficit to 15 points by late in the third quarter. But the Blue Demons pushed it back to 20 at 55-35 by late in the period with a Jenkins layup and Podkowa's second 3-pointer of the night.