Box Score Jan. 26, 2002
Box Score
Nikki Weddle (Denver, Colo./Montbello/CU) scored 16 points to lead the University of Denver women's basketball team to a 65-47 victory over Sun Belt Conference West Division foe Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday at Magness Arena. Denver improves to 10-11, 6-3 in the Sun Belt while Lafayette falls to 6-14, 1-8 in the conference.
"We didn't play particularly well, but we played well enough to win," Denver head coach Pam Tanner said. "Sometimes you win ugly, and we would rather win than lose. I thought Nikki Weddle helped us a great deal tonight. She has made some mature adjustments to her game, and that's what we need from our senior point guard. She was aggressive on defense and offensively, she hit scored well for us."
The Pioneers got off to a slow start, but scored nine straight points midway in the first half to break open a 14-point lead at 20-6. Lafayette closed to within seven points just before half time on a jumper by Sarah Richey, but Denver scored the last three points of the half to take a 10-point lead to the locker room.
Denver built its lead to 18 points as Weddle score 12 points in a 16-8 Denver run to start the second half. But the Ragin Cajuns fought back with a 10-2 run to close the gap to nine points at 49-40 with 10 minutes to play in the game. Denver was able to push the lead back to 13 points as Misty Staton (Duke, Okla./Duke) worked inside the paint for a layup (53-40) and the Pioneers eventually got the score back to 18 points to finish the contest.
Weddle was the only Pioneer in double figure scoring, but four players contributed between 8-9 points. Nicky Eason (Carpentersville, Ill./Barrington) scored nine points and had a team-high seven rebounds. Kellie Carwell (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian), Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas/Holmes) and Staton each added eight points. Sarah Richey led the Cajuns with 19 points.
The Pioneers solidified second place in the Sun Belt West Division, trailing North Texas who will be the Pioneers' next opponent, Saturday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m., at Magness Arena.
