The DU women’s basketball team rewarded themselves last weekend, clinching a bye in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament after a pair of wins against Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas to finish their regular season.
The Pioneers cemented themselves as the No. 2 seed in the West Division, finishing 19-10 overall and 11-5 in conference play.
Denver walked all over Louisiana-Lafayette in last Thursday’s game at the Cajundome, winning 82-39.
DU swept the Cajuns off their feet with an 11-5 lead within seven minutes of the first half. Junior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch also put the Pioneers in a steady position when she converted on five three-pointers before half.
Ten Pioneers scored during the game. Tied for top scores of the game were Murdoch and freshman guard Quincey Noonan, who finished with 17 points each. Not far behind, red-shirt sophomore Morgan Shell added a career-high 16 points.
Denver’s shot percentage throughout the game was a solid 56.1 percent, leaving the Cajuns trailing behind at 25.9 percent.
“We played a great game tonight. We limited our turnovers and had 20 assists,” head coach Erik Johnson said. “I’m proud of the way our team is playing. You always want to play your best heading into the conference tournament, and we’re getting contributions from everyone on the team.”
On Saturday, the Pioneers still had enough fuel left in them to pull through with the final victory for the season against North Texas 74-50.
Senior guard Britteni Rice scored 19 points, while senior forward Briana Culberson ended the regular season with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
However, unlike the game against the Cajuns, Denver had a slothful start of the game with North Texas leading 12-5 early on. The Pioneers got back on their feet with an 11-0 run and shooting an overall 56.5 percent, leaving North Texas with a percentage of 35.1 from the field.
“We didn’t handle pressure early, but we settled down and played well the rest of the way,” head coach Erik Johnson said.
The final score against North Texas left the Pioneers with a successful six-straight game win with 20 points or more.
As for the postseason, the team will wait until Saturday to find out who they play in the quarterfinals on Sunday, which will start at 11:15 a.m. They will play the winner of Western Kentucky (12-15) and North Texas (5-22).
Earlier in the week, Johnson said the bye would be a huge advantage for the team, cutting down the number of games to win the entire tournament from four to three.
He also acknowledged the fact that the team would be looking up toward the conference’s respective No. 1 seeds, Middle Tennessee (22-6) and Arkansas-Little Rock (19-6).
DU went 0-3 against those two squads during the regular season, losing by a total of 13 points in the three losses.
“The conference has gone through Middle and Little Rock, and they will be the team’s we need to beat once again if we want to make the NCAA’s,” said Johnson.
