Jan. 6, 2002

Box Score

Junior forward Misty Staton (Duke, Okla./Duke) scored 18 points to lead the University of Denver women's basketball team to their fourth straight victory, a 65-52 victory over Sun Belt Conference foe Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday at Magness Arena. The Pioneers extended their league-best winning streak in conference games to 18 games and improved to 8-8, 4-0 on the season. Arkansas-Little Rock fell to 4-9, 0-3 on the season.

Winners of six of the last seven games, Denver built an early lead in the first half and was able to mount runs in the second half to keep the hungry Trojans at bay. Melissa Garcia (Thornton, Colo./Thornton) scored 17 points and Kellie Carwell (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian) added six points and six rebounds. The Pioneers got quality minutes from their bench players, with nine players gaining 11 or more minutes and contributing 20 points. Freshman Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) scored nine points and had seven rebounds while classmate Nicky Eason (Carpentersville, Ill.) added eight points.

"This was a challenging game for us," head coach Pam Tanner said. "Little Rock is a much better team than their record shows. I thought we did a good job on both ends of the floor and our young kids did a nice job."

Little Rock made a 6-2 run to earn a 14-10 lead early in the first half, but Pioneers answered with a 17-4 run to take a 29-18 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. Garcia scored nine points in the run, including a three pointer from the left side and a conventional three-point play. Becca Beougher hit a three pointer with three minutes remaining in the half to break a four-minute scoring drought for the Trojans and cut the Denver lead to 29-21. That trey stared an eight point surge to end the half for the Trojans to make the score 35-24 at the intermission. UALR committed 13 turnovers in the first half, including seven in the game-turning Pioneer run.

In the second half, the Trojans closed to six points when Roberta Sarti hit one of two free throws to make the score 37-31. Denver opened an 11-point lead when Garcia hit a three pointer to make the score 45-34. UALR closed to seven points midway in the half, and the Pioneers responded with a 12-3 run to earn its largest lead of the game at 16 points (57-41). Staton scored six points in the second-half run. UALR did not surrender, mounting a 9-2 run to close to within nine points with a minute to play. Denver closed the door by making all six of their free throw attempts down the stretch.

Alicia Cash scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Trojans. She was the only player for UALR in double figures.

Next up for the Pioneers will be their biggest test of the conference season when they travel to take on East Division leader Florida International Saturday, Jan. 12.