DENVER - The University of Denver women's basketball team (13-10, 8-4 SBC) dropped a 70-56 decision to Florida Atlantic (12-11, 8-5 SBC) on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 810 in Magness Arena. 

Denver was led by senior Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.), who scored 18 points and grabbed eight boards.  Junior Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) chipped in with 17 points, while sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) added 10 points and nine rebounds.

"You have to give Florida Atlantic some credit," head coach Erik Johnson said.  "They did a great job of putting the pressure on us to create turnovers, but we made a lot of mistakes on our end as well."

Coming off a 13-assist performance against the UNC Bears, freshman Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) led Denver once again finishing the day with five assists.

FAU held a slim one-point advantage at the half, leading 31-30.  Denver shot an impressive 62.5 percent from the field during the first half while limiting the Owls to just 36.4 percent shooting.

FAU opened up the second half with an 11-0 run and the Owls never looked back. Florida Atlantic junior Lyrell Barfield led all scorers with 25 points, shooting 6-12 from behind the arc. As a team, the Owls sank 11 treys from downtown.

Next up, the Pioneers hit the road to take on conference rival Middle Tennessee on Wednesday.  Tip is slated for 6 p.m. and fans can follow the action live on Pioneer Vision and Live Stats.

Pioneer Notes:

• With her 10 points for the game, Murdoch extended her consecutive games with double figures to 13.
• Culberson's 18 points for the night marks the 22nd game this season that she has finished in double figures.
• Rice's 17 points marks the 18th consecutive game that she has finished in double-figures this season.
• Smith's five assists marks the ninth consecutive game that she has finished with three or more assists. Smith tied the record for most assists in a game by a Pioneer earlier this week as she tallied 13 against the UNC Bears.
• Denver held the advantage in rebounds (35-21) and blocks (6-1).

 

- PIONEERS -