Feb. 3, 2004

The University of Denver women's basketball team will host two games this week, both televised on Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain. The Pioneers host New Mexico State on Thursday (Feb. 5) at 6:30 p.m., and Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday (Feb. 7) at 3 p.m. The tip-off times have been changed to accommodate TV. The New Mexico State game will also be broadcast via the DenverPioneers.com internet site only, and the UL-Lafayette game will be aired on AM 950, The Fan.

Denver will complete the first round of Sun Belt Conference West Division play Thursday against New Mexico State. The Aggies, who come into the game with a 9-10, 3-4 record, were picked to win the West Division in a preseason vote of the league's head coaches. Led by first year head coach Darin Spence, the team features the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year, Sinnamonn Garrett, a 5-11 guard who is averaging 15.1 points per game. Denver owns a 4-2 series advantage, but lost both games to the divisional foe last year.

The Pioneers will try to exact revenge on Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday after suffering an 80-57 setback to the Rajun Cajuns in Lafayette Jan. 10. Under the direction of head coach J. Kelley Hall, Lafayette is second in the West Division standings with a 4-3 league record, and 15-4 overall. Anna Petrakova scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the last meeting between the teams and currently leads the league in scoring (19.5 points) and rebounding (10.5) per game. Denver owns a 7-2 series advantage, but has lost two straight games in the series.

The Pioneers, 10-9, 3-4, are led by junior guard Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) who is averaging 12.4 points per game. Jones is coming off a 32-point week in which she shot 50 percent from the field to lead Denver to a 1-1 split with a win over New Orleans and a lost to division leader South Alabama. Led by ninth-year head coach Pam Tanner, Denver has won three of its last four games and sits in fourth place in the conference west division standings.