March 4, 2002

Box Score

New Orleans, La. - The University of Denver women's basketball team bowed out of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in the seimifinal game vs. No. 1 seed (East) Florida International Monday, 80-65, at Lakefront Arena. With the loss, Denver fell to 16-13 on the season and FIU improved to 25-5 and advanced to the championship game to face North Texas Tuesday at 2 p.m. (MST).

Denver senior All-Conference point guard and leading scorer (14.1 ppg.) Nikki Weddle (Denver, Colo./Montbello/CU) was called for two personal fouls early in the game and played just 12 minutes in the first stanza. She was part of the 32-13 free throw discrepancy and fouled out of the game at 12:53 having played just 16 minutes (5 pts.).

"Certainly having your starting point guard foul out of the game with 12 minutes to play hurts the team," Denver head coach Pam Tanner said. "But, we didn't regroup as a team very well. Things happen, injuries happen and we have to be able to respond."

Denver trailed by just two points at the break (33-31) after a nip and tuck first half during which there were 12 lead changes. FIU made an 8-0 run after Denver's Stephanie Hart (Shorewood, Wash./Shoreline) was charged with a player control foul to open the largest lead for either team in the first half at six points (33-26). Freshman Tyesha Lowery (Arlington, Texas) hit the biggest shot of her young career, a 3-pointer with 1:28 on the clock to stop the FIU run and close the margin (33-29). Misty Staton (Duke, Okla, Duke) finished the scoring for the half with a 15-foot shot to inch the Pioneers within two points.

After Weddle fouled out of the game, FIU mounted a 22-7 run to break open the game and give the Panthers their largest lead at 61-45 with seven minutes to play. FIU continued to score points in the paint with both Cormisha Cotton and Cheryl Moody notching double figures in points (20 and 16, respectively). FIU registered its largest lead of the game of 18 points (68-50) on two free throws from Mandy Shafer.

"The key to the game is that FIU capitalized on each of our mistakes," Tanner said. "We made too many mistakes and allowed FIU to do what they do best."

The Pioneers now await word from the WNIT selection committee who will make their invitations after the NCAA Tournament bracket is announced Sunday, March 10.

"We have positioned ourselves in the last 10 games to be strongly considered for an NIT bid," Tanner said. "History shows that the WNIT takes 3-4 teams from the Sun Belt. My basketball team has done all it can do and now it's out of our hands."