March 6, 2004

Box Score

The University of Denver women's basketball team pulled off an upset at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 8 seed, defeating No. 1 seed South Alabama (47-45) Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena in the first round of the postseason tourney. Denver improved to 14-14 on the season, while USA suffered just its sixth loss of the season to drop to 22-6.

Denver advances to the semifinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and will face the winner of the No. 4 Middle Tennessee vs. No. 5 North Texas game which is schedule for Sunday, March 7 at 10 a.m. MT. Denver will wait until Monday, March 8 at 10 a.m. MT for the semifinal contest.

Senior forward Stephanie Hart (Shoreline, Wash.) put Denver on her back in the first half, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds to provide a five point lead at the half (25-20). Sophomore point guard Tyesha Lowery (Arlington, Texas) picked up where Hart left off in the second stanza, scoring 10 points including six of Denver's last 13 to complete the upset.

Hart finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds to record her third consecutive double-double (ninth of her career), and Lowery scored 14 points and six rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the field. Denver shot 41.5 percent from the field for the game, and held USA shot 29.8 percent.

"This was a total team effort," Denver Head Coach Pam Tanner said. "We finally played a complete 40-minutes game. We've been playing well for the last 2-3 weeks, but tonight we put it all together. We kept our composure at the end."

In the second half, USA came within two points of the lead scoring a three pointer to begin the stanza. Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) responded with a three pointer, and Denver rebuilt a six-point lead at 36-30. USA scored eight straight points to take their first lead since the beginning minutes of the contest. Genevieve Delk led the USA run with six points. Lowery regained the lead for the Pioneers with a jumper from the top of the key (40-38). Down the stretch, Lowery scored two buckets and fed the ball to Sarah Cyran inside to put the Pioneers ahead 47-42.

With under a minute to play, USA used fouls to stop the clock and Delk hit a three pointer to get the Jaguars within two points at 47-45 with 40 seconds to play. Denver held the ball for the one shot, getting a good look at the basket, but Jones' shot went off the front rim. South Alabama's Sara Carter had an opportunity to tie the game, but her layup was short and Denver held on to a two-point advantage.

In the first half, Denver scored six straight points to earn a 12-7 and controlled the half. The Pioneers got contributions from five different players to build the early advantage. Denver scored five straight points to get ahead 17-9 with seven minutes to play in the half. Hart led the way with short jumper from the elbow to cap the mini run for the Pioneers. Hart continued to pace the Pioneers, scoring eight of the team's final 10 points of the half. South Alabama's Donyelle Wheeler got the Jaguars back in the game with back-to-back three pointers to make the score 21-15. Carter made three free throws to finish the half, bringing the Jaguars to within five points of the lead at 25-20. Hart finished the half with 12 points and nine rebounds as Denver shot 44.4 percent from the field and held USA to 26.9 percent.

Three Pioneers earned Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll, as announced in a pre-game ceremony: Sarah Cyran, Katie Davenport, and Stephanie Hart.