Jan. 17, 2005

Box Score

Milena Tomova scored a Magness Arena record 43 points to lead Florida International University to a 74-59 Sun Belt Conference victory over the University of Denver women's basketball team Monday afternoon. The loss drops Denver's record to 2-13, 0-3, while the Panthers improve to 12-5, 2-2.

Tomova led all scorers with a career-high 43 points. The Panthers shot 57.4 percent from the field (31-of-54) while dishing 22 total assists. Freshman Sara Benham (Muleshoe, Texas) scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for a near double-double performance, to lead the Pioneers. Senior guard Tasha Jones (San Antonio, Texas) and junior forward Venice Adams (Luling, La.) combined for 24 points. Despite improving its shooting in the second half to 44.4 percent (12-of-27) the Denver made just 24 of its attempts for the game (40.7).

After leading by 15 points at halftime, FIU increased its lead to 47-28 early in the second half with two baskets by Tomova. Benham added two layups to close the gap 14 points (33-47), but a basket by FIU's Lasma Jekabson and a 3-pointer by Tomova gave the Panthers a 19-point lead (52-33) with 14:53 remaining in the game. Denver rallied for a comeback and went on a 13-6 run with Samantha Winter's 3-pointer and Benham's layup closed the gap to 15 points (64-49) with 5:58 left to play. But even with a late 10-4 run by the Pioneers, Tomova's jumper with 42 seconds on the clock sealed the win for the Panthers, 74-59.

FIU went on an early 13-0 run with Denver unable to comeback and finished the first half trailing by 15 points (43-28). The Pioneers shot just 37.5 percent from the field (12-of-32), while the Panthers made 17 of its attempts and were 7-of-8 from the free throw line. FIU's Milena Tomova led all scorers in the first half with 25 points, while Jones added eight points for Denver. The Pioneers forced seven Panther turnovers but were unable to lessen FIU's advantage.

The Pioneers hit the road for a two-game road trip first battling Arkansas-Little Rock on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. and then Arkansas State on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 6:05 p.m. MT.