DENVER - University of Denver senior forward Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.) scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season and lead the Pioneers (12-7, 4-2 SBC) to a 65-56 victory over Arkansas State (10-10, 3-4 SBC) Wednesday night at Magness Arena.

"It was a great performance tonight and a really good team effort," said head coach Erik Johnson. "Arkansas State is a good team and this is a quality win for us."

Junior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) added 12 points for the Pioneers and freshman forward Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) scored a season and career-high 10 points for Denver. Sophomore guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished eight assists in the win.

"We have a balanced team and we put together a well balanced attack," coach Johnson said. "You really have to give credit to our bench for stepping up in huge ways."

Denver never trailed in the win. The Pioneers remain undefeated (9-0) against the Redwolves at Magness Arena.

Denver could not miss to begin the first half, going 8-of-8 (100 percent) in the first eight minutes and getting out to a 20-5 lead. The Pioneers continued to stretch their lead during the first 20 minutes and went up by as many as 17 when Culberson drained a three-pointer with 11:50 to play in the half.

Arkansas State battled back during the latter part of the half, but the Pioneers continued to shoot well finishing the half 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) compared to Arkansas State who was 8-of-25 (32 percent) from the field and Denver went into intermission up 30-23.

The Pioneers continued to shoot well in the second half and stretched the lead to 36-25 following a Smith layup at the 17:09 mark. ASU was never able to get within less than six in the second half as Denver continued to shoot superbly down the stretch going 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) while holding the Redwolves to 12-of-31 (38.7 percent) shooting in the latter half.

Denver shot 53.2 percent and was 25-of-47 from the field in the win. Arkansas State finished the game shooting 35.7 percent and was 20-of-56 from the floor.

Culberson moved to No. 21 on the DU's all-time scoring list and sits at 999 points for her career. She combined with Murdoch to go 9-of-10 (90 percent) from the free-throw line.

Junior guard Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) left the game midway through the first half with the stomach flu and did not return.

Sherina Scott led Arkansas State with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jasmine Taylor added 10 points in the loss.

The Pioneers next game takes them to Middle Tennessee State Sunday, Jan. 23. Game time is set for 11 a.m. MT. Fans can follow the game on the Sun Belt Network. Fans can also follow the action through Pioneer Radio, Live Stats and CoverItLive available through www.DenverPioneers.com.

- PIONEERS -