DENVER - The University of Denver women's basketball team fell 75-60 to Utah in the season opener Saturday afternoon at Magness Arena.

Junior forward Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) led the Pioneers with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Pioneers (0-1). Sophomore guards Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Jordan Johnston (Waterloo, Iowa) added 11 and 10 points, respectively, while senior guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out seven assists.

Utah's Michelle Plouffe led all scorers with 29 points and tied a game-high with eight rebounds. Plouffe scored 20 points on 7-for-8 from the field and 4-for-4 from three-point range in the second half with the only miss coming with 2:30 left. She was followed by teammate Taryn Wicijowski, who finished with   points and seven rebounds.

"Utah is a tough team, but we want to play this type of opponent," head coach Kerry Cremeans said. "It's not about this season, it's about getting better and getting ready for our upcoming conference season. The team and our staff, we're leaving this arena knowing we got better tonight. We battled hard, but Utah is good, and they shot well tonight, but I'm proud of the 40 minutes of this team fighting hard."

Wicijowski scored nine points in the first nine minutes, leading the Utes to a 34-27 edge into the break.

The Utes (1-0) came out strong in the second half, as Plouffe single-handedly outscored the Pioneers 12-4 in the first 4:27 of the second half to extend Utah's lead, which eventually reached 24 points with 8:04 remaining.

The Pioneers closed the game on an 11-4 run, but it wasn't enough, as they fell by 15.

Denver shot 42.1 percent (24-for-57) from the floor in the game, while connecting on just 1-of-7 from three-point range. Utah hit 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the floor and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers will return to action Tuesday, when they host Montana State at 7 p.m. MT.

Visit DenverPioneers.com for the complete coverage of all of DU's 17 NCAA Division I sports.

--EXPERIENCE DENVER ATHLETICS-

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