Dec. 5, 2001

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team fell to Big Ten opponent Northwestern on their home court, Welsh-Ryan Arena, in Evanson, Ill., Wednesday. The Pioneers have lost four straight to drop their record to 2-4 on the season while the Wildcats improve to 2-6.

"It's very frustrating, but we have a lot of games to play," head coach Pam Tanner said. "We didn't execute for 40 minutes. We played pretty good defense, but when you shoot 31 percent from the field, you are not going to win many games. We got the shots we wanted, but we couldn't convert."

Denver built a 10-point lead early in the second half with a 12-5 run capped by Weddle (42-32) at 13:56. But, the Pioneers saw the advantage disappear as Northwestern went on a 22-4 run to earn an eight-point margin (54-46) and then made 13 free throws down the stretch to increase the winning margin to eight points. Northwestern worked its way back within four points of the lead (42-38) on a six-point surge that started with two free throws and possession due to an intentional foul called against Weddle for grabbing while falling down. The Wildcats regained their lead when Suzanne Morrison converted a conventional three-point play at 6:14 to make the score 48-46 and continued to score the next nine points for the Wildcats to earn a 54-48 advantage with 3:20 to play.

In the first half, Denver came from a 12-point deficit to take a 30-27 advantage to the locker room at halftime. After trailing 19-7 midway through the first half, Denver began working its way back into the game with its defense, which caused 18 Wildcat turnovers in the fist stanza. Melissa Garcia (Thornton, Colo./Thornton) capitalized on a Wildcat turnover to convert a conventional three-point play at 7:46 in the first half. Ashley Atkinson (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) hit two three pointers in the 20-8 Pioneer run that was capped by Nikki Weddle's (Denver, Colo./Montbello/CU) four points at the end of the half to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game.

The Pioneers shot 31.9 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from the line. Weddle's led the Pioneers with 16 points while Atkinson had 14 points and Garcia added 12. Denver caused 32 Wildcat turnovers, but was outrebounded 45-37. Northwestern's Morrison ended with a game-high 19 points to lead the Wildcats to a 48.8 percent shooting night.

The Pioneers will continue their three-game road trip, facing Bradley on Friday in Peoria, Ill., and Monmouth on Sunday in West Long Branch, N.J.