Dec. 30, 2003

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team lost its first game in three tries with a 53-50 loss to Fresno State on Tuesday. Denver falls to 6-4 on the season, while Fresno improves to 6-4.

After trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half, Denver closed to within three points of the Fresno State Bulldogs, but could not overcome the significant deficit. Stephanie Hart (Shoreline, Wash.) scored a season high 14 points in the losing effort, and Ragan Neblett (Arvada, Colo.) added 14 as well. Denver shot just 35 percent from the field for the game, but nearly pulled off the upset.

Fresno opened the second half by scoring the first seven points to open a 13-point margin at 36-23. Denver worked the score back to eight points when Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) scored her first three pointer of the game (38-30). Denver got within seven points of the lead when Jamie Edwards (Woodinville, Wash.) hit her second three pointer of the evening (42-35) with 11 minutes to play. Hart scored eight consecutive points to keep the Pioneers in the game, and Edwards nailed her third 3-pointer of the game to close the gap to just four points with four minutes to play. After a Fresno free throw, Neblett earned an offensive rebound and put back to cut the lead to just three points (51-48) with 1:32 to play. Jasmine Plummer made two free throws to make the score 53-48, and Denver could muster just two more points to relinquish the three-point decision.

"It was an ugly game on both sides, but I am proud of the team because they fought back and didn't quit," Head Coach Pam Tanner said. "We're not always going to play well, but we have learned some valuable lessons in this game that will hopefully help us during (Sun Belt) conference play."

In the first half, the Pioneers matched blow for blow with the home Fresno State team, in a defensive battle in the opening minutes of the game with the game deadlocked at 10 points at the midway point. Denver took the lead briefly when Edwards sunk her only points in the first half, a three pointer to make the score 20-19. However, Fresno took advantage of Pioneer turnovers and missed shots to score 10 points in the final three minutes of the game to earn a 29-20 lead. Neblett nailed her second 3-pointer of the game to end the half and close the gap to six points at the half (29-23). Denver committed 16 turnovers and shot 31.3 percent from the field in the first period, while the home team connected on 59.1 percent of their shot attempts.

The Pioneers return home to complete the non-conference portion of their schedule with two games. Denver will host Northern Arizona (Jan. 4) at 1 p.m., and Eastern Washington (Jan. 8) at 7 p.m. Both games are scheduled for Magness Arena.