Jan. 18, 2003

Box Score

Little Rock, Ark. - Senior guard Ashley Atkinson (Springfield, Mo./Kickapoo) scored 14 points, including her 1,000th career tally, to help the University of Denver women's basketball team defeat Arkansas-Little Rock (74-66) in a Sun Belt Conference match up at Trojan Fieldhouse. Denver improves to 9-9, 3-1 on the season, while UALR falls to 3-12, 0-5.

Atkinson buried a three pointer from the right corner to reach the 1,000-point plateau, and became the 14th 1,000 point scorer in Pioneer women's basketball history. She added 10 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season, and now has 1,004 career points. Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas/Holmes) led the team with 19 points. Nicky Eason added 14 points for the Pioneers.

"I'm really proud of Ashley for scoring her 1,000th point," head coach Pam Tanner said. "You have to be a consistent, major player for a team for four years to accomplish that. It is appropriate that the milestone came on a three pointer."

Denver opened an early 10-point lead in the first half and fought off the Lady Trojans' charge all night to escape with an eight-point margin. UALR got to within six points of the Pioneers with five minutes remaining to play (66-60), and came within four points of the Pioneers before Denver scored the last four points to hang on for the win.

"UALR didn't give up; they played very hard until the end," Pioneer head coach Pam Tanner said. "We were able to get a win without playing our best game, and it's good to win two games on this trip and be .500."

Denver broke open a 10-point lead early in the game on the strength of a barrage of three pointers. Atkinson started the trend, and Nicky Eason buried back-to-back treys to make the score 18-8. The Pioneers continued on a 21-5 run to earn a commanding 13-point lead just past the midway point of the period. Arkansas-Little Rock answered with a 14-5 run to cut Denver's lead to just four points (32-28) before Denver finished out the half with a 9-4 run to maintain its 10-point advantage (43-33).

The Pioneers, winners of three straight on the road, return home to host a Sun Belt Conference weekend with South Alabama and New Orleans visiting Magness Arena Jan. 23 and 25 respectively.