Jan. 24, 2004

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit and survived a scare from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock to hold on for a 61-57 victory over the Trojans Saturday afternoon at Hamilton Gymnasium. Denver improved to 9-8, 2-3 in the Sun Belt Conference, and Arkansas-Little Rock dropped to 8-10, 1-4.

Junior guard Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) scored a driving layup with five minutes to play in the game to give the Pioneers their first lead (51-50) since early in the first half. Jones stole the ball on the next Trojan possession and earned another layup to put the Pioneers up by three points (53-50). Sarah Cyran (Broomfield, Colo.) pushed the score to 55-50 before Jocelyn Love buried a three pointer to close within two points. Freshman point guard Kaitlyn King (Albuquerque, N.M.) knocked down one of the biggest shots of the night with a three pointer with one minute to play to get the lead back to a comfortable five points 58-53).

The Pioneers battled to come within one point of the Trojans three times in the second half and finally retook the lead, with five minutes left in the game on Jones' basket. Denver secured the win with a 12-2 run with eight minutes to play in the game, with points from five Pioneer players, including Jones with four. The Trojans refused to give up, however were unable to overcome as much a seven-point deficit due to a strong Pioneer defense, which held them to nine points in the final eight minutes of the game.

Pioneers Head Coach Pam Tanner was happy with the effort the Pioneers put in. "It took us a while to warm up, but once we did, we did some nice things. We played a solid part of the second half and did what we needed to do to win. This was an important win for us. This could have been the game that kept us out of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament - every game is that important."

In the first half, Denver jumped to an early lead on a 9-2 run, with senior forward Ragan Neblett (Arvada, Colo.) and Jones combining for all nine points. The Pioneer offense stalled after that, committing 16 turnovers in the first half. With the Pioneers leading 11-9, the Trojans went on a 16-6 run midway through the first half, and were able to establish a 31-25 halftime lead.

Jones led all scorers with 16 points on 5-11 from the field and 5-6 from the line. Senior forward Stephanie Hart (Shoreline, Wash.) scored 10 points and led the Pioneers in rebounding with seven boards. King pitched in with 11 points. The Trojans were led in scoring by Tamara Humphrey with 15 points on the game.

The Pioneers will next embark on a two-game road trip to face West Division leader South Alabama on Thursday, Jan. 29 (6 p.m.), and New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 31 (12 Noon).