After falling to South Dakota State University last Thursday, the women’s basketball squad came away with a win against neighboring North Dakota State in what would be the team’s regular season finale as well as the final home game for five seniors.
Before Saturday’s game against the Bison of North Dakota, seniors Alison Janecek, Maiya Michel, Desiree Hunter, Quincey Noonan and Brianna Tisch were honored during a Senior Day Ceremony.
Hunter came up with four rebounds on the weekend, along with a total of nine points.
Fellow senior Noonan redshirted her senior year to recover from injury. Back in her first year as a Pioneer in 2010, Noonan started and played in 30 games and was dubbed DU’s Most Valuable Freshman.
A knee injury eight games into the season cut Michel’s senior campaign short. She was still able to gather 661 total career rebounds, which ranks ninth all-time at Denver.
Janecek headed the charge for the Pioneers in the weekend games, getting a double-double Saturday with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the night, along with 11 rebounds. The senior forward from Omaha also grabbed 11 boards in the Thursday night loss to South Dakota State.
The Pios jumped out to an early 10-0 lead over the visiting Jackrabbits of South Dakota State, but found themselves down by one at half, 30-31. The Jackrabbits hit 48 percent of their shots beyond the arc, and eventually beat the Pioneers by a 14-point margin, 69-55.
Saturday’s outing proved more fruitful for the Pioneers. A 17-6 run fueled by three 3-pointers by junior Morgan Van Riper-Rose put DU up by seven going into the break. DU led by as many as 13 in the second half, and shot a whopping 61.8 percent from the field.
All five Pio starters scored in double figures against the Bison. Sophomore guard Kailey Edwards had 14 points at the break, and finished with 24. Junior forward Theresa Wirth almost had a double-double performance. She ended the game with 21 points and seven boards.
The Pioneers head to Sioux Falls, S.D. for the Summit League Championships March 8-11. With a 5-9 mark in conference play (7-22 overall), DU is the 6th seed in the tournament, and is slated to take on Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (Fort Wayne) on Sunday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m. The Mastodons posted an 8-6 Summit League record while going 15-13 on the year.
During the regular season, the Pios split the series with Fort Wayne. Both games were close. The Pios lost by three in Fort Wayne, but rebounded in the second game of the series and won 71-66 at Magness.
