DENVER - Paced by a career-high 16 points from junior Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.), the University of Denver women's basketball team (4-5, 1-0 SBC) opened up Sun Belt Conference action with a 62-48 win over Florida International (4-5, 0-1 SBC) on Monday evening in Magness Arena. The game marks the first of five straight games at home for the Pioneers and extends its win streak to three games.

"Bri came out big for us right out of the gate," said head coach Erik Johnson. "She is hitting an unbelievable percentage from three-point range this season because she is taking good shots. She only hit two for us tonight, but it forced FIU to come out and guard her. She is learning how to use her versatility and she is doing a great job of being efficient with the basketball."

Culberson finished the night shooting 57.1 percent from the floor (4-of-7) and perfect from downtown (2-of-2) to go along with a 6-of-9 showing from the charity stripe. The forward also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists. Providing some of those assists was freshman Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) who finished with seven assists after coming off a career-high eight assists against Air Force last week.

Also finishing in double figures was sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) as she finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Murdoch currently ranks second in the NCAA in field-goal percentage and finished the night shooting 58.3 percent from the floor.

Rounding out the double-figure scoring for Denver was junior Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) as she added 10 points and four assists. Leading the way off the glass was senior Ashly Robinson (Bloomington, Minn.) as she grabbed 13 boards to go along with six points.

Elisa Carey led the Golden Panthers with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Fannie Hutlassa added 14 points off the bench to go along with six rebounds.

Denver continues its five-game homestand on Wednesday night as it hosts Northern Arizona at 7 p.m. in Magness Arena. The game will be available on Pioneer Vision and Live Stats at www.DenverPioneers.com.

Pioneer Notes:

• Sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch extended her consecutive games with one or more blocks to 16 games and her consecutive games with double figure points to 12.
• After finishing with a career-high eight assists against Air Force, freshman Emiko Smith tallied seven assists against the Panthers to lead the Pioneers in assists for the sixth time this season. Smith has finished with multiple assists in eight consecutive games this season.
• Junior Brianna Culberson sets new career-high in points with 16 as she led all scorers. The junior has tallied double figures in nine consecutive games.
• Ranked fourth in the nation in field-goal percentage, the Pioneers finished the game shooting 45.8 percent from the floor (22-of-48) and 75.0 percent from the line.
• Denver's defense held FIU to just 26.1 percent shooting from the floor and 28.6 percent from long distance.
• Denver held the advantage in rebounds (44 to 41), blocks (7 to 5) and assists (15 to 13) over FIU.

- PIONEERS -