Jan. 25, 2003

Box Score

The University of Denver extended its winning streak to five games and remained tied for the lead in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference with a 70-64 win over New Orleans Saturday afternoon. Denver improves to 11-9, 5-1 on the season, while UNO falls to 7-11, 4-3.

The Pioneers started the game on a 15-4 run, and built a 21-point lead with two minutes remaining in the half. Denver used a flurry of three pointers from Katie Davenport (Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola), Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas/Holmes) and Ragan Neblett (Arvada, Colo./Pomona) to get the lead to 38-19 before the Privateers answered with three treys to finish the first half trailing by 15 points (43-28).

The second half was the exact opposite for the Pioneers. New Orleans continued its inspired play into the second period, starting out with an 8-0 run to cut the Denver lead to just six points with three minutes gone in the half. Denver fought back and was able to hold off the visiting Privateers, hitting 11-14 free throws down the stretch to survive with a six-point victory.

"Sometimes I think this is a Jeckle and Hyde team," head coach Pam Tanner said. "We played a great first half; we executed our offense and handled their pressure very well. The second half was the exact opposite. New Orleans didn't do anything differently, we just could not get into a flow and panicked a little."

Neblett led the team with 17 points, and Jones had 14 tallies in addition to six assists. Denver shot 40.7 percent from the field, including 7-20 from long range. The Pioneers shot 73.1 percent from the free throw line, converting 19-26 opportunities.

The Pioneers will try to extend its winning streak with two Sun Belt Conference games next week, including a show down with co-division leader New Mexico State on Thursday, Jan. 30 in Las Cruces, N.M.