Dec. 11, 2003

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team led by three points at halftime, but relinquished an 80-63 decision to in-state foe Colorado State Thursday at Magness Arena. Denver fell to 3-2 on the season while Colorado State improved to 4-3 with the win.

Denver went on a 12-4 run to earn a 16-12 advantage in the middle of the first half, before Colorado State scored eight unanswered points to re-take the lead at 22-16. Junior guard Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) led the Pioneers in scoring in the first half with 12 points, and heavily contributed to a 15-6 run late in the half, sending Denver to the locker room up by three (31-28).

Colorado State opened the scoring in the second half with a 20-6 run to go ahead 48-37. Denver stormed back with a 9-0 run to come within two points of the lead (48-46). Down by as few as two points in the middle of the second half, the Pioneers refused to give up. Jones tallied six points in the run, but the Rams answered with an 11-5 run of their own. The Rams' offense proved to be too much for Denver, as Colorado State had four players score in the double-digits, and went up by as many as 19 points late in the second half.

"We lost some defensive intensity in the second half, head coach Pam Tanner said. "I'm proud of the effort of the team tonight, but we have to put 40 minutes together. This team has a lot of fight. We're young in some spots and don't have a lot of depth in others."

Denver will next travel to Seattle, Wash., the hometown of senior Stephanie Hart, to take on the University of Washington from the PAC-10 Conference on Tuesday, December 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m., MT.