DENVER - Senior Michaela Pavlickova (Prague, Czech Republic) tallied her 27th career double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore Misty Staton (Duke, Okla.) contributed 10 points and two blocked shots to help the University of Denver women's basketball team to an easy win over Louisiana-Lafayette in a Sun Belt Conference match-up Thursday night at Magness Arena. With the win, the Pioneer's 11th consecutive overall as well as their 11th straight win at home, improve to 19-5 on the season, 11-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Ragin' Cajuns fall to 8-16, 2-11).
The Pioneers made a statement early in the game when they rattled off five unanswered points and built a six point lead, 8-2 three minutes into the contest. Louisiana-Lafayette battled to within three points, 16-13 with 11:16 left to play in the first half but would get no closer as Denver maintained a nine-point margin throughout the remainder of the half. The Ragin' Cajuns attempted a rally late in the period but were only able to cut one point off of their deficit as they headed to the recess down by eight, 38-30. Pavlickova led the Pioneers in the first half with 15 points.
The Pioneers opened the second half with a run of their own by shutting down the Cajun offense for a span of nearly three minutes as they posted 10 unanswered points and built a 21 point lead, 66-45 with 7:57 left to play. Louisiana-Lafayette mustered a late-game comeback to pull within 10, 75-65 with 1:01 remaining but ran out of time as Denver converted two free throws in the final 48 seconds to win earn their final margin of victory.
For the game, Denver converted four 3-pointers and held the Ragin' Cajuns scoreless on five attempts. The Pioneers also held a considerable advantage on the boards, out-rebounding Louisiana-Lafayette 42-27 and forced 19 Cajun turnovers. The Pioneers were able to give valuable minutes to the reserve players as every player dressed scored at least two points.
Denver will put both of its 11-game winning streaks on the line this Saturday, February 17 when they host Sun Belt Conference foe Florida International. Tip-off is scheduled for 7p.m.
