TROY, Ala. - University of Denver women's basketball senior Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) had 22 points and junior Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas), as the Pioneers ran away with a 66-43 road victory over Troy at the Sartain Hall on Saturday evening.

Sophomore Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out a game-high seven assists, and freshman Quincey Noonan (Broomfield, Colo.) had a career-best six assists and six rebounds. Rice added six rebounds, Murdoch had five blocked shots and senior forward Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.) contributed 13 points for the Pioneers (15-10, 7-5 SBC).

"We played a good game tonight," head coach Erik Johnson said. "We took care of the ball. Emiko Smith had seven assists, and Quincey Noonan had six, and they had only two turnovers."

The Pioneers opened the second half with a 14-2 run, including seven points by Rice, stretching the lead to 48-34 points at 12:52 remaining in the game. Denver broke the game open down the stretch, as the Pioneers went 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) in the second half.

 "The bench played really well for the second game in a row. I'm really proud of our team for getting the lead and holding onto it," Johnson said. "Troy played really well in the first half, so we had to make a lot of adjustments at halftime, and our players responded well."

Rice scored DU's first eight points, leading the Pioneers to an early 15-4 lead. However, Troy (5-20, 2-10 SBC) battled back to within 29-24 at halftime. Murdoch and Culberson both had nine points before the break.

DeAngela Sword led the Trojans with 15 points and seven rebounds.

The Pioneers return home for the final two home games of the season. Denver will host Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and South Alabama on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3:30 p.m. MT. The game can be seen and heard live on Pioneer Vision at www.DenverPioneers.com.