Nov. 25, 2006

Box Score

Honolulu - The University of Denver women's basketball team dropped its second consecutive game, falling 67-53 to Texas Tech at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic Saturday afternoon. Denver falls to 1-2 while Texas Tech improves to 3-2.

"I thought our defense did well," head coach Pam Tanner said. "We missed an opportunity to gain some valuable RPI and strength of scheduling points. We had some good opportunities to win the game but we our mental mistakes stopped us."

Senior Tyesha Lowery (Arlington, Texas) led the Pioneers with 11 points, while junior Sara Benham (Muleshoe, Texas) added 10 points. Junior Jenna Cole (Lincoln, Neb.) led the Pioneers with seven defensive rebounds.

The Pioneers kept the Lady Raiders close for most of the second half until Tech extended their lead to 17 at 3:50 and never looked back. DU shot 30.8 percent from the field in the second.

DU was out-rebounded by Texas Tech, 48 to 31 in the game. DU forced 19 Lady Raider turnovers, scoring 10 points off of the turnovers in the first half.

In the first half, Denver cut the lead to five but could not get any closers, allowing Tech to get a 10 point lead with 5:03 remaining. The Lady Raiders extended their lead to 11 but Lowery hit a baseline jumper to cut the lead to nine.

DU got off to a slow start, shooting.200 percent early in the first half, improving to .393 by the end of the half, in part to Lowery hitting 5-of-6 from the field. Junior Alisha Godette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) got into foul trouble early, registering two fouls in the first three minutes of the game.

DU was 0-for-13 from the arc and hit 15-of-26 from the free throw line in the game.

"I see some positives in this team," said Tanner. "We need to finish strong and it is important for us to finish with a win tomorrow."

DU wraps up action at the Rainbow Wahine Classic against Sacramento State Sunday, Nov. 26 at 11 a.m. locally, 2 p.m. in Denver.