SOUTH BEND (AP) — After three weeks in an offensive funk, DePaul coach Doug Bruno was at a loss to figure out how the Blue Demons could break out of it.

The answer came in the first half against Notre Dame. The Blue Demons shot 72 percent en route to a two-point halftime lead, extended the advantage to 10 points in the second half, then held on for an 81-80 win over 16th-ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

"We needed to fix us today," DePaul coach Doug Bruno said.

The Fighting Irish (15-4, 3-2 Big East) had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Holly Medley stole the ball from Charel Allen with 2 seconds left and dribbled away as the clock ran out.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw placed the blame for the loss squarely on her team's poor defense after the Blue Demons shot a season-high 60 percent for the game.

"I thought that was an embarrassing display of defense," she said. "We have no commitment at that end of the floor whatsoever. That was an absolute disgrace defensively."

The Irish gave DePaul confidence, McGraw said.

"If you give a team confidence they can do anything they want. Them shooting 72 percent was the best thing that happened to them all year.

DePaul (14-4, 3-2) went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to open a 58-49 lead. Allie Quigley ignited the run when she converted on a three-point play, then Deirdre Naughton, who led the Blue Demons with 20 points and eight rebounds, did it again 36 seconds later. Missy Mitidiero capped the run with a 3-pointer.

The Irish cut the lead to 71-70 when Allen hit a 3 with 4:37 left. But the Blue Demons stretched the lead to five moments later when Natasha Williams scored inside and Quigley made a pair of free throws.

Brittany Mallory's two foul shots for the Irish cut the lead to 81-80. Quigley caught the inbounds pass and while being covered by Mallory lost her dribble out of bounds to give the Irish a chance with 4 seconds left. But the Blue Demons held on.

"To come into such a tough place as the Joyce Center and to be able to steal one I think has done an unbelievable amount for our collective team psyche," Bruno said

Quigley scored 16 points for DePaul, Williams had 14 and Mitidiero added 12. Blue Demon players said they didn't know they shot so well in the first half.

"Some days your shots are falling and sometimes they're not. Tonight we were just focused and they were falling," Quigley said.

Ashley Barlow scored a career-high 23 points for the Irish, Allen had 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting and Erica Williamson tied her career high with 16 points. The Irish were just 25-of-35 from the free-throw line.

McGraw didn't feel much better about her team's offense.

"We really looked unorganized, I thought, on offense. We were out of sorts, out of synch. We dribbled into each other quite a few times, we couldn't make entry passes," she said. "We just didn't have the direction on the offensive end."