Nov. 21, 2004

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team dropped its season-opening game to the University of San Francisco 62-59 Sunday at Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers scored 42 points in the second half and came back from an 18-point first-half deficit to earn a three-point advantage, but could not sustain the lead. Denver falls to 0-1 while the Dons improve to 1-1.

"As poorly as we played in the first half, I was please with the way we responded in the second half," Head Coach Pam Tanner said. "We did some really nice things and played pretty smart basketball for about 12 minutes."

Denver opened the second half with a 27-6 run to erase an18-point deficit. Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) scored 14 points in the run that gave Denver a three-point advantage with eight minutes to play in the game. Jones sunk three 3-pointers in the span of four minutes and led the Pioneers' surge. USF finally responded and tied the game at 48. Dominique Carter sunk back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Dons a 58-51 lead with three minutes to play. With fouls to stop the clock, Denver came back to 58-54. Senior center Sarah Cyran (Broomfield, Colo.) made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to get Denver withing two points at 61-59. Denver set up for the final shot, but Brooke Meyer's long-range attempt was too much and careened off the back board.

In the first half, Denver shot just 27.6 percent from the field and made only eight field goals. Meanwhile the Dons shot the lights out at 48.1 percent. USF finished the half with a 10-2 run to take a comfortable 18-point lead to the locker room at the half.

Tasha Jones led Denver with 18 points on 6-13 from the field, including 3-6 from long range. Cyran added 14 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing four assists. Carter led all scorers with 22 points for the Dons. Denver shot 45.5 percent from the field in the second half, including 50 percent from long range.

Denver returns to action following the Thanksgiving holiday, traveling to Wyoming on Friday at 2 p.m., in Laramie, Wyo.