Jan. 11, 2003

Box Score

Denton, Texas - The University of Denver women's basketball team built a 15-point lead midway through the second half, and held off the Lady Eagles' 10-1 onslaught late in the second stanza, to secure its first Sun Belt Conference victory over North Texas at the Super Pit (55-42). The win is also the Pioneers' first victory on an opponents' court. Denver improves to 7-9, 1-1 on the season while North Texas falls to 6-7, 1-1.

"We did so many things well today," head coach Pam Tanner said. "We executed the game plan as well as I've seen us do in the first half. We handled ourselves very professionally in everything we did today - the way we need to handle ourselves in every game. Hopefully this will be the start of something for us."

Denver pulled away from the Lady Eagles using a 13-5 run fueled by nine points from three consecutive three-point plays by Tasha Jones - conventional (San Antonio, Texas/Holmes), Misty Staton - conventional (Duke, Okla./Duke) and Ragan Neblett - three pointer (Arvada, Colo./Pomona). The Pioneers enjoyed a 48-33 lead with seven minutes to play. North Texas mounted a 10-1 run on the strength of its full-court defensive pressure, but Denver responded by hitting 7-10 free throws down the stretch to hang on to re-build its lead to 13 points.

North Texas scored the first four points of the game before Denver got into the action and rattled off the next six tallies en route to a 14-2 run to earn an early seven-point lead (14-7). Kellie Carwell (Villa Park, Ill./Timothy Christian) scored six points in the run, including four points from the free throw line. The Lady Eagles responded by scoring the next seven points to tie the game at 14 apiece, including four points from Kim Blanton. Denver opened a 10-point lead late in the first half when Ashley Atkinson (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) and Jones hit back-to-back three pointers in a 12-2 run to push the score to 26-16. North Texas scored two points from the free throw line to finish the half trailing by eight points 26-18.

For the second consecutive game, Jones led the team in scoring with 14 points. Stephanie Hart (Shorewood, Wash./Shoreline) recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. UNT was led by Kim Blanton with 15 points.

"Tasha Jones played very well and was out of position (playing point guard)," Tanner added. "Stephanie Hart was exceptional today with a double-double and hitting her free throws at the end."

The Pioneers continue league play next weekend with a trip to Arkansas to play Arkansas State and Arkansas Little Rock.