NEW YORK, N.Y. The University of Denver women’s basketball team (2-4) fell to Columbia University (4-4) 67-56 in the Levien Gymnasium in New York on Saturday afternoon.

 

Freshman Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) led the Pioneers with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from the free-throw line. Murdoch was shooting a perfect 7-of-7 until the 2:16 mark of the second period when she missed her first bucket of the game. Sophomore Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 from the three-point line for her third consecutive game with double-digit points.

 

Junior Ashly Robinson (Bloomington, Minn.) led the way on the boards for Denver as she grabbed five for the day, while also finishing with eight points.

 

Murdoch led all scorers in the first half as she was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field, grabbing one rebound, one steal and dishing out one assist. Also contributing for Denver in the first half was Rice and senior Sara Bents (Billings, Mont.) as both finished with five points heading into the locker room.

 

The Pioneers struggled in the opening period shooting only 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, and going 0-of-6 from three-point land.

 

After trailing throughout the first five minutes of action, the Pioneers were able to take their first lead of the game on a layup by Bents that put Denver up 9-7. However, the Lions got a key three-point contribution from guard Danielle Browne to put Columbia back in the driver’s seat with an 11-9 cushion.

 

Denver was able to tie the score 18-18 with 6:00 to play as Rice drained a crucial jumper from inside the paint. But the Lions bounced right back as Browne tallied her second three of the game to put Columbia up 21-18. The Lions retained the advantage throughout the rest of the half, heading into the break with a 36-20 lead.

 

For the game, the Pioneers shot 46.0 percent from the field on 23-of-50 shooting, just a bit better than the Lions’ 44.7 percent on 21-of-47 shooting.

 

Denver was never able to regain the lead in the second half, but was able to cut the advantage to nine points with 12:14 left to play off a lay-up by Bents, assisted by senior Andie Mason (Gilbert, Ariz.).

 

The Pioneers return home to host the Air Force Falcons on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Magness Arena. Tom Helmer and Greg Lackey will call the action live as the game will be broadcast live via the Fox Sports Rocky Mountain.

 

 

 

- PIONEERS -