DENVER - University of Denver senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Pioneers in a 72-63 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday evening at Magness Arena. The win improves the Pioneers to 6-0 when playing in Magness Arena. The Pioneers move to 8-3 on the season. Minnesota falls to 7-6.

"Minnesota is a good team and they found ways to take advantage of their size, but we were able to drive the basketball and find some seams," said head coach Erik Johnson. "I am really proud of our team and we are looking to continue getting better."

Sophomore guard Quincey Noonan (Broomfield, Colo.) added 16 points, redshirt-junior Morgan Shell (Marble Falls, Texas) had 12 points and freshman guard Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) scored 10 points for Denver. Senior guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) had eight of the Pioneers' 17 assists as Murdoch, Noonan and sophomore forward Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) grabbed eight rebounds each.

 

Denver got behind early, trailing Minnesota 20-9 following a Golden Gopher three-pointer with 13:04 to play in the first half. However, the Pioneers came storming back, putting together a 23-6 run that took up 8:18 in the middle of the half and was highlighted by Noonan's steal and lay-up at 6:54 to give Denver its first lead of the game at 25-24. Van Riper-Rose buried the second of her two first half three-pointers with 3:49 to play before halftime, giving the Pioneers a 32-26 lead. Noonan had 11 points in the half and Denver led 36-34 at intermission.

Shell opened up the second half with a three-pointer for Denver, followed by seven-straight points from Murdoch and the Pioneers led by as many as 10 points with 12:46 to play in the game. A Noonan three-pointer at 6:13 gave Denver a 62-51 lead, its largest of the game, and the Crimson and Gold were able to maintain control for the remainder of the contest.

Denver shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the floor during the game while holding Minnesota to just 33.8 percent (22-of-56) shooting. The Pioneers were 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) from the free-throw line compared to the Golden Gophers who were 14-of-19 (73.7 percent). Denver shot 33.3 percent (5-of-15) on three-point attempts. Minnesota was 5-of-17 (29.4 percent) from beyond the arc.

Rachel Banham led Minnesota with 14 points. Katie Loberg had nine rebounds in the loss.

The Crimson and Gold finished up 2-2 against BCS-conference opponents during this non-conference season, including winning its last two match-ups against Oregon out of the Pac-12 and Minnesota from the Big Ten.

Next up for the Pioneers is a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Shootout on Sunday, Dec. 18 through Tuesday, Nov. 20. Denver begins the event with a match-up against UC-Davis at 7 p.m. MT on Sunday. Fans can follow the action via LiveStats and CoverItLive available at DenverPioneers.com.

-PIONEERS-