Jan. 16, 2003

Box Score

Ragan Neblett (Arvada, Colo./Pomona) scored a career-high 22 points to lead the University of Denver women's basketball team to a 70-62 victory over Sun Belt Conference foe Arkansas State at the Convocation Center. The Pioneers improved to 8-9, 2-1 on the season, while ASU 5-11, 1-3.

Denver built a 10-point lead early in the second half, and maintained the margin for the conference road win. Neblett scored the first seven points of the second half for the Pioneers to get Denver off to a 9-2 start and a 42-32 lead with just three minutes off the clock. The Pioneers maintained its 10-point margin through the majority of the half. ASU's Porter buried three free throws to cap a 5-0 Lady Indian run which cut the Pioneer lead to five points with five minutes to play (60-55). Nicky Eason (Carpentersville, Ill./Barrington) pushed the score to 62-55 before ASU began fouling to stop the clock. With good defense and making 12-19 from the free throw line, Denver pushed the lead back to 11 points at 70-59.

"We were very focused tonight and played a great team game," head coach Pam Tanner said. "We handled their pressure (defense) much better in the second half. The difference in the game was our bench. We got great play from our bench, especially Sarah Cyran who played well on offense and defense for us."

After trailing by six points, Denver mounted a 15-4 run to take an early five-point lead (21-16) at the midway point in the first period. Rachel Porter scored back-to-back buckets to get the Lady Indians back within one point (20-21), but Denver answered with a 10-4 run fueled by two three pointers from Ashley Atkinson (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) to earn a 33-24 margin with three minutes to play in the half. ASU scored the last five points of the half to go to the locker room trailing by five points (33-29). Neblett shot 3-3 from the floor, including 1-1 from long range to lead the Pioneers to a 63.6 percent shooting half. Atkinson had eight points in the first stanza.

Neblett finished with a career-high 22 points on 8-11 from the floor and 4-7 from long range. Eason had 12 points, and Atkinson scored 10. Porter led the Lady Indians with 13 points.

The Pioneers continue their stay in Arkansas with a game at Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday (Jan. 18).