The women’s basketball squad opened Summit League play against South Dakota this past Sunday in a win that was just what the doctor ordered.
The Pios had won only two of its non-conference battles heading into the day, and stood at 2-13 overall. Ten of the team’s 16 games have been road battles, with one road trip lasting five games long.
“It was a tough non-conference schedule, we played some tough opponents, even away from home, and that’s not easy. But we endured,” said head coach Kerry Cremeans.
The team picked up their third win in a 91-84 shootout against North Dakota, and now has a 2-2 record its last four games. And, maybe most importantly, the Pios are sitting pretty at 1-0 in conference play.
“We’re approaching the conference season as a new season,” Cremeans said.”Everybody is 0-0. It’s just a fresh start and that’s how we approached it.”
“You could tell that they played light tonight, played with a lot of fun, a lot of great energy and like I said, it was just a great collective team effort. The bench was ready to play, and the team was very prepared and focused and executed the game plan very well,” added Cremeans.
Headlining the win for DU was a breakout performance by junior forward Theresa Wirth, who finished with 26 points, 17 of which came in the first half. She also finished with a team high eight rebounds and three blocks, and went 9 for 11 from the free throw line.
“It’s been coming, you know she can score inside and she can shoot the three,” Cremeans said. “We’ve focused a lot on her outside shot, and for her to not look that over. She really had a great confidence from the top of the key with her shot. I know she can be one of the top post players in our conference for sure.”
Junior guard Morgan Van Riper-Rose complemented the inside play of Wirth by hitting 6 of 9 from beyond the arc to go along with 22 points overall. With under two minutes to play, Van Riper-Rose iced the game with a three to put the Pios up by five, 89-84.
A strong shooting performance was needed to make up for 20 offensive rebounds by South Dakota that led to 18 second chance points in the second half alone.
“It’s just a credit to South Dakota, they didn’t go down without a fight,” Cremeans added. “They came back strong. Obviously they battled us hard on the boards, but in time-and-score situations we executed well, stayed focus and were able to get to the free throw line late in the game.”
After going to the line just seven times in the first half, the Pioneers finished the game hitting 21 of 25 from the foul line. The Pios also shot well above their season average field goal percentage in the second half, knocking down shots at a clip of 60 percent. Overall, the team made a little more than half their shots (31 for 60).
Summit League play continues for the team in Indiana this week, beginning with Fort Wayne (1-1, 8-8 overall) on Thursday and ending with IUPUI (1-1, 11-6 overall) on Saturday.
