DENVER - The University of Denver women's basketball team fell 73-55 to Montana State on Tuesday night at Magness Arena. The loss drops the Pioneers to 0-2 on the season, while the Bobcats improve to 2-0.

Sophomores Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Theresa Wirth (Mesa, Ariz.) led the Pioneers (0-2) in the contest, finishing with 13 and eight points, respectively. Junior forward Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) finished with a team-high five rebounds in addition to scoring eight points in the contest.

"Montana State came in here tonight and they just played really tough," said head coach Kerry Cremeans. "We met as a team in the locker room after the game and talked about the things we know we can do better. We're not anywhere near where we want to be defensively, but that's why we coach, that's why we play the game and that's why we work hard every day. We'll figure it out, because we are a much tougher, and more physical, and more aggressive team than we showed tonight defensively. Offensively we're getting good looks; we just need to finish the shots that we're getting."

DU trailed throughout the game, shooting 35.5 percent (22-for-62) from the floor in the game, while finishing 20 percent (2-for-10) from three-point range. On the other side of the court, Montana State (2-0) connecting on 50 percent (31-for-62) of their shots.

Van Riper-Rose and Wirth kept Denver alive during the first half, finishing with nine and six points, respectively, but the Pioneers couldn't overcome the Bobcats strong shooting in the first half and trailed 44-26 at the half.

The Pioneers came out of the half strong, forcing Montana State to commit three early turnovers, while Van Riper-Rose and junior Desiree Hunter (Cypress, Calif.) connected on both their attempts. Hunter finished the night with six points and four rebounds.

Senior point guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) finished with four points and a team-best five assists, while junior Alison Janecek (Omaha, Neb.) grabbed four rebounds, tallied six points and registered two blocks.

Rachel Semansky led the Bobcats with 14 points of 7-of-9 shooting from the field, while two other Bobcats finished with 11 points each.

The Pioneers travel to Laramie, Wyo., on Friday, where they will take on Wyoming at 5 p.m. MT. Fans can follow the match live via Live Stats and Live Video all at DenverPioneers.com.

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

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