Box Score DENVER - The University of Denver women's basketball team defeated New Mexico State 67-58 on Saturday evening at Magness Arena. The win moves Denver to 9-11 overall and 4-5 in Western Athletic Conference play, while the Aggies fall to 3-6 in the conference and 9-10 overall.
"Everybody produced, we shot the ball well from the wings and the post players hit free-throws late in the game," said head coach Kerry Cremeans. "This game is a credit to our conference. It's competitive, every team fights hard each and every night."
Sophomore guard Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led the Pioneers in scoring with 22 points and also added seven rebounds and two steals. Senior guard Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) tied her season-high of 10 assists, while finishing with five points and six rebounds. Sophomore Jordan Johnston (Waterloo, Iowa) was the only other double-digit scorer for the Pioneers with 11.
The Pioneers' defense allowed for an early first half lead, jumping out to a 12-4 lead with 13:27 remaining. Denver extended its lead to 11 points by the midway mark of the first half. The Aggies responded with a 10-4 run, cutting the Pioneer advantage to eight points with five minutes left to play in the first half. Denver held the Aggies to just 30 percent shooting from the field and committed only four turnovers by the intermission, heading into the locker room with a 32-23 lead. Van Riper-Rose led all scorers with eight points at the half.
Denver's exceptional shooting to start the second half increased its lead to 16 with 15:45 remaining, when Johnston connected on her third three-pointer of the game. New Mexico State battled back and cut the deficit to six with 8:15 left to play. Van Riper-Rose's seven-point effort over the next minute put the Pioneers up 59-48. The Aggies continued to pressure the Pioneers down the stretch, cutting the margin to six points with 3:25 left to play. However, the Pioneers used solid free-throw shooting from junior Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif), junior Desiree Hunter (Cypress, Calif) and Van Riper-Rose to take the nine-point win.
New Mexico State was led by Stefanie Gilbreath's 18 points, while Kelsey Rozendaal finished with a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, respectively. Hunter finished the night with eight points and seven rebounds, while Michel posted eight points and nine rebounds. Junior Alison Janecek (Omaha, Neb.) tied her career-high with three blocks.
Denver finished the game shooting 35.9 percent (23-of-64) to New Mexico State's 34.9 percent (22-of-63). The Pioneers held a significant advantage from three-point range shooting 53.8 percent (7-of-13), while holding the Aggies to 21.4 percent (3-of-14).
The Pioneers will return to action this week at Magness Arena where they will host UTSA on Thursday at 7 p.m. MT and Texas State on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT.
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