Dec. 29, 2004

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team led by four early in the second half, but relinquished a 70-54 decision to Eastern Washington University Wednesday at Reese Court. The Pioneers fall to 2-8 on the season, while Eastern Washington improved to 7-3 and extended its win streak to six games.

Denver battled back from 10-point deficits in each half, and took a four-point lead early in the second half but could not sustain the momentum to drop a 16-point decision. Senior guard Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) led the team with 15 points, and Venice Adams (Luling, La.) added 12 points for the Pioneers. Freshman point guard Brooke Meyer (Denver, Colo.) recorded eight points and eight rebounds.

"We had some chances to win this game, but we didn't shoot the ball well tonight and really all season," Head Coach Pam Tanner said. "We are getting better defensively, but our inexperience was a factor tonight. We are going to improve and learn as we go."

After trailing by three points at the half, the Pioneers came back to take a two-point lead early in the second stanza by scoring the first five points to make the score 34-32. Denver continued its surge to lead 38-34 before EWU responded with a 13-0 run to take a 47-38 lead with 11 minutes to play in the game. Denver fought back to within four points when Cassondra Bratton (Arvada, Colo.) sunk a 3-pointer and Adams followed it with a bucket in the paint to get the score to 47-43. The Pioneers scored just nine more points in the game while EWU tallied 18.

In the first half, Denver fell behind by as many as 10 points, but rallied late in the period to close the half trailing by just three points (32-29). Denver ended the half on a 10-3 run led by senior guard Tasha Jones who scored six points in the rally and ended the half with 10 tallies. The Pioneers committed eight turnovers (EWU had five) and allowed four 3-pointers by the Eagles, but outrebounded the home team 19-16 and shot 80 percent from the free throw line.

Eastern's Joanna Chadd led all scorers with 16 points, while Julie Page added 12 for the Eagles. As a team, the Eagles shot 50 percent from the field, including 7-18 from long range.

The Pioneers will remain in Washington to take on Gonzaga in the final game of 2004 on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m., MT.