DENVER -- The University of Denver women's basketball team hosts the South Dakota Coyotes on Thursday night in Hamilton Gymnasium at 6 p.m. MT. 

The Pioneers are 4-23 all-time against the Coyotes and dropped the matchup earlier this season in Vermillion, 55-75, on January 17. 

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
•The Pioneers fell to North Dakota 72-73, in a close battle in Grand Forks on Saturday afternoon. 
• Denver returns home for a three-game homestand starting on Thursday night at 6 p.m. MT against South Dakota.
•DU hosts St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon and Omaha on February 11.

WORKIN' WITH WATTS
•Sophomore Guard Coryn Watts scored a career-high 32 points in the Dec. 19 win over California Baptist, good for ninth-most by a Pioneer in a single game in program history.
•The Colorado native leads the team and the league and ranks 16th in the nation with 35.85 minutes per game.
•The sophomore guard is one of three players in the Summit League with nine or more 20-point performances, alongside Avery Koenen and Brooklyn Meyer.
•Watts is the sole player in the League with three 30-point games and one of 11 players nationally. 
•From behind the arc, Watts is the only player in the Summit League with three games with five or more 3FGs. She leads the conference and is 31st nationally with 59 treys per contest and 25th with 2.81 threes per game.

DROPPING A THIRTY PIECE
•The Pioneers are one of nine teams to have two different players score 30+ points in a game this season, the other teams being Northwestern, Fairield, Murray State, NAU, Temple, Iowa State and Drexel
•Coryn Watts has recorded three thirty point performances this season - 30 points on 12/9 vs. Metro State, 32 points on 12/19 vs. Cal Baptist and 31 points vs. Oral Roberts on 1/24.
•Laia Monclova scored 30 points on 12/17 vs. Colorado Christian 

PICKING POCKETS
•Laia Monclova ranks second in the Summit League and 99th in the nation with 48 steals through 22 contests. 
•Monclova's 2.18 steals/game is second the league and 109th in the nation. 
•The junior has recorded three or more steals on seven different occasions.
•Tori Baker tied for the third-most steals in a single game in program history with seven takeaways in the victory over North Dakota.
•The Pioneers average 7.8 steals per game, ranking fourth in the Summit League.

DIVISION I INTERNATIONAL ADDITIONS
•In the program's Division I history, the Pioneers have had players from nine different countries outside the United States including multiple from Australia (4), Canada (3), Israel (2) and Spain (4).
•On the current roster, Teodora Simoncevic is the first player from Serbia.

SPANISH INFLUENCE
• Four Pioneers join the team from Spain- Paula Oliva Gomez, Natalia Fanjul, Laia Monclova and Ana Conde.
 • Oliva Gomez and Fanjul both led their high school teams to 3x3 championships during their high school careers.
•Conde joins the Pioneers after a season at Siena where she led her team to a WNIT appearance and averaged 15.3 minutes per contest.

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER ACCEPTS WCC INVITE FOR 2026-27
•On October 31, the University of Denver announced it has accepted an invitation to join the West Coast Conference in nine sports, beginning in the 2026-27 season.  
•Denver will join the West Coast Conference in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball.
•The move provides Denver with a significant enhancement to the overall reputation of the university and brand association, allying DU with highly regarded, mostly private institutions with stronger academic ranking and profiles that will further strengthen the university's position in the western United States.