Dec. 20, 2003

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team held off a second-half rally, and survived a scare from Lafayette College to hold on for a, 76-69, overtime victory over the Leopards Saturday afternoon in the second game of the Wells Fargo Classic at Magness Arena. Freshman guard Jamie Edwards (Woodinville, Wash.) had a career-high 17 points, including eight in the decisive overtime period as Denver improved to 4-3 on the season. Lafayette drops to 0-5.

Denver jumped to an early lead on a 7-0 run thanks to four Leopard turnovers within the first two minutes of the game. With the Pioneers leading 13-12 at the 11:09 mark, Denver went on a 13-0 run with senior forward Ragan Neblett (Arvada, Colo.) scoring six points and helping the Pioneers take its largest lead of the half at 26-12. Lafayette cut the Denver lead to six with 3:49 remaining in the half, but the Pioneers scored nine of the final 13 points for a 35-24 halftime lead. Freshman forward Laura Granzow (Springfield, Mo.) led all scores with 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

The second half was much different from the first, as the Leopards opened the half with a 16-4 run and took their first lead of the game with just over 12 minutes left at 40-39. Denver fought back to grab the lead again and held a 62-54 advantage with 3:02 remaining following a basket by sophomore Tyesha Lowery (Arlington, Texas). But the Leopards weren't dead yet, cutting the lead to 62-60 with 31 seconds remaining. After forcing a Pioneer turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, Brianne Welte tied the game at 62-all with a lay-up with 23 seconds left. With Denver holding for the final shot, Granzow's shot came up short and another chance by Stephanie Hart (Shoreline, Wash.) missed as the game went to overtime.

After Lafayette scored the first two points of overtime, Denver went on a 10-1 run that included back-to-back three-pointers by Edwards that gave Denver a 72-65 lead. The Leopards came within five points, but would not come back to get what would have been their first win of the season.

Pioneers Head Coach Pam Tanner was pleased with the team's never-give-up attitude after a poor performance in the second half. "In the second half we just did not make any defensive adjustments to what Lafayette did," she said. "I am proud of the way we came out in overtime; we dictated the tempo and did some good things. We could have just as easily given up and lost this game but we fought hard and got the win."

The Pioneers will match up with Kansas on Sunday, December 21 at 2 p.m., in the championship game of the Wells Fargo Classic. The Jayhawks defeated the University of Texas-Arlington Lady Mavs earlier Saturday by a score of 71-52.