The women’s basketball team made giant strides when they played Brigham Young University in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament(WNIT), losing 75-60 in Prove, Utah on March 17.
The game marked the first time in program history that the women’s team was invited to play in the WNIT, a goal that both players and coaches felt was obtainable throughout the season.
<The team finished its season with a 19-12 overall and 11-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. Unfortunately, the loss to BYU marked the end of one of the best season’s in school history.
“We felt like we could be a NIT team; our goal was to be playing in March,” said head coach Erik Johnson. “We played a really hard non-conference schedule – playing teams at that level was huge for us.”
Denver’s game plan heading into its match-up with BYU was to handle its full court pressure and take care of the ball on offense. Defensively, they wanted to get back in transition and not give up any three-point baskets to their shooters.
In preparation for BYU’s full court pressure, head coach Erik Johnson had six defenders guarding five offensive players full court during practice.
“Six-on-five in practice helped prepare me for the game to handle the pressure,” said sophomore point guard Emiko Smith.
The preparation paid off as BYU stopped pressing full court after too many easy Denver baskets at the beginning of the game.
Despite defeating BYU’s defensive pressure, the Pioneers came up short on the offensive end, shooting a mere 34 percent from the field after being one the best teams in the nation all season in field goal percentage. .
The Pioneers will be graduating three seniors at the conclusion of spring quarter: Britteni Rice, Briana Culberson and Abbey Leichliter, all of whom are veterans of Johnson’s system.
Rice finished No. 10 all-time in school history with a career total of 1,283 points. In addition, Rice ranks tied for third in games played (118), fourth in three-pointers made (147), and third in free-throws made (324. Also, she ends her career first all-time in free-throw shooting percentage (.822), according to the school’s athletics website.
Culberson concluded her career at DU with 1,172 points, which ranks her No. 13 all-time in scoring. The forward also finishes as the Pioneers leader in all-time games played with 121.
While the program will miss the graduating class, a strong incoming freshman class this year as well as next year gives the Pioneers a chance at advancing to the postseason once again next season.
“We need our younger players to be ready next year. We have three guards coming in next year, and I believe our freshmen class will be really strong.” said Johnson.
