Pioneers' seven-game winning streak is longest in five years DENVER - Senior forward Misa Pavlickova (Prague, Czech Republic / Boulder [Colo.] HS) led all players with 19 points and 12 rebounds to help the University of Denver women's basketball team to a 73-54 win over New Mexico State in Sun Belt Conference action Saturday night at Magness Arena.
With the win, Denver (15-5, 7-2 SBC) remains atop the Sun Belt West Division and holds a two-game lead over second-place New Orleans. The Pioneers also increase their winning streak to seven games - the longest stretch since a 10-game streak during the 1995-96 season, when Denver competed in Division II - and have now won 12 of their last 13 games. A 20-point loss at No. 8 Louisiana Tech on January 3 is the Pioneers' only blemish over the last six weeks.
Head coach Pam Tanner's troops stormed out to a commanding 19-6 lead in the first seven minutes, nine seconds of the ballgame, holding New Mexico State (6-12, 3-5 SBC) under 20 percent from the field for much of the first half. The Aggies made a late charge in the last five minutes of the half, keeping the Pioneers scoreless for over three minutes near the end of the half, but 8-for-34 shooting (23.5 percent) prevented NMSU from making any headway and Denver took a 35-23 lead into the intermission.
NMSU then scored the first two buckets of the second half to pull within six (35-29) with 17:32 to play, but the Pioneers went on a 14-3 run over the next 4:43 to keep the Aggies at bay.
Pavlickova was one of four Pioneers in double-figure scoring; sophomore center Misty Staton (Duke, Okla. / Duke HS) poured in a career-high 16 points, and junior guards Melissa Garcia (Thornton, Colo. / Thornton HS) and Nikki Weddle (Denver, Colo. / Montbello HS / Univ. of Colorado) each added 13 points. Weddle also added a career-high nine assists against just three turnovers.
The win leaves Denver just one win shy of equaling its win total from all of last year (16-11, 10-6 SBC), its first as a member of the competitive Sun Belt.
"Someone told me that we're close to getting to 20 wins and becoming a contender for the NCAA Tournament, but we have to worry about wins 16, 17, 18 and 19 before we can even think about 20," said Tanner. "We have to take things one game at a time. Even though we were up by 13 early on, I was scared that New Mexico State was going to come back all the way until there were three minutes left. Their record is so deceiving; they are such a good basketball team. I thought we had a good defensive game plan, and I was pleased with the output we got tonight."
The Pioneers are off for five days until they join the men on the road for a Sun Belt doubleheader at South Alabama next Thursday, Feb. 1. Tipoff for the women is at 3:30 p.m. (MST) at the Mitchell Center, site of the league's men's and women's conference tournament in March.
