After losing its past two games on the road, the Pioneer women’s basketball team was able to hold off New Mexico State at home on Saturday to win 67-58 and improve its record to 9-11 overall and 4-5 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
“We’ve come off four losses, which is tough,” said senior guard Emiko Smith. “They’ve all been close, except the Utah State game, so it feels good just to get this, especially at home in front of our home crowd.”
Smith racked up 10 assists and six rebounds that night, in addition to scoring five points.
“She’s composed and really takes a leadership role out there,” said head coach Kerry Cremeans of Smith. “But everybody produced; we shot the ball well from the wings, and the post players hit free throws late in the game. Everybody was a part of this win and really stepped up.”
Also contributing to the team’s success was sophomore guard Morgan Van Riper-Rose, who scored 22 points to lead the team, while sophomore guard Jordan Johnston added 11 points to the total.
Denver ended the first half leading the Aggies 32-23. The team continued to maintain its lead throughout the rest of the game, despite efforts from New Mexico State to overcome the deficit.
“We’ve had a huge focus on defending, not only your own girl but together as a team,” said Smith. “We’re looking to just defend all ball penetration and then, as a team, keep people down under the 70-point mark. Defense is definitely a big focus right now.”
The team has been dealing with close games for three out of their past four losses. The final score of their Jan. 13 game against Seattle was a three-point difference at 69-66, and the team lost by only one point against San Jose State on Jan. 17 (67-68).
“It’s just a credit to our conference; it’s very competitive, and every team fights hard every night,” said Cremeans. “It’s really anyone’s ball game any night, but we had a nice, strong first half, and we were able to maintain that and finish out with a win.”
The Aggies continued to pressure the Pioneers down the stretch, narrowing Denver’s lead to six points with just over three minutes left to play. However, the Pioneers used solid free-throw shooting from juniors Maiya Michel and Desiree Hunter, as well as Van Riper-Rose to take the nine-point win.
“It’s just a matter of continuing to be tough. We have to be known as a tough team, and that’s how we’re going to win ball games,” said Cremeans. “We’re the smallest team in the league, but we’re tough on the boards, and we’ve got to continue to be able to rebound and win that rebounding more for us to be successful.”
As the Pioneers look ahead to next week, they are preparing to take on Texas San Antonio on Thursday at Magness Arena. UTSA’s current record is 11-9 overall and 5-4 in the WAC, and they are coming off a Saturday loss to Idaho.
Opposite of the Pioneers’ recent four losses, the Roadrunners were riding a four-game winning streak before their most recent loss. In the Roadrunners’ game against Seattle, their shooting game was 39.7 percent compared to DU’s 35.9 percent in their most recent match.
According to Cremeans, the team is looking to getting back into the game and remaining tough against all future opponents.
“We’re looking to win the WAC; we’re excited,” said Smith. “We’re also looking to finish the conference play tough and get as many wins as we can. We’re really excited about that.”
