DENVER – The University of Denver women’s basketball team fell to visiting UC Irvine Anteaters 78-73 on Thursday night from Magness Arena to fall to 1-3 on the season. Four Pioneers finished in double figures for the second straight game as sophomore Paige Bradley (The Woodlands, Texas) led all Pioneers with a career-high 21 points, 13 coming in the second half.

“It was a hard fought effort,” said head coach Kerry Cremeans. “You’re always going to see that out of this team. Credit goes to UC Irvine because they just battled hard in those last 4-5 minutes of the game. We knew they would be an aggressive, offensive rebounding team and they proved that.”

Also finished with double figures was junior Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) with 18 off 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, 4-of-7 from long distance.

Junior forward Theresa Wirth (Mesa, Ariz.) surpassed her career-high in rebounds with 14, while also finishing with 16 points. Wirth’s previous career-high in boards came last weekend as she collected 12 in the Pioneers’ 72-64 win over Air Force.  

Sophomore guard Kailey Edwards (Broomfield, Colo.) played the role of distributor and recorded a career-high in assists with six, to go along with 11 points. Senior forward Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) also recorded a game-high 15 rebounds, 11 of those in the first half alone.

Van Riper-Rose got off to a quick start with back-to-back three pointers and finished the half 4-of-6 from three-point land, adding two free throws with 2:42 to play in the half to finish with 14 points. The Pioneers led by as much as 10 points in the first half, taking a 35-28 cushion into the locker room.

Denver held the advantage to start the second half, until the 13:37 mark when the Anteaters took the lead. Both teams exchanged points until the 5:55 mark when UCI surpassed the Pioneers for good. The Anteaters outscored the Pioneers 50-38 in the second half, which included a 19-point showing from Camille Buckely. Buckley finished the game with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Also scoring for the Anteaters was Madison McKenney with 15 points and Jennifer Tsurumoto with 13 points.

The Crimson and Gold shot 42.1 percent (32-of-76) from the field, while holding UC Irvine to 40.6 percent (26-of-64).

The Pioneers next travel to Bozeman, Mont., to take on Montana State, at 2 p.m. this Sunday, Nov. 24.

Denver Team Notes

• Bradley recorded a career-high in points with 21.
• Michel recorded 11 of her 15 rebounds in the first half alone.
• Wirth recorded a career-high in rebounds with 14, passing her previous mark of 12.
• Edwards recorded a career-high in assists with six, beating her previous best of four.

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