Photo by: Adam Hammerman
The DU women’s basketball team defeated both Arkansas State and Arkansas-Little Rock last week to claim first place in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference, increasing their winning streak to five games.
On Wednesday, the Pioneers (13-8, 5-2 SBC) faced Arkansas State in Magness Arena and won 73-61. Senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch led the team with a career-high 33 points and shot 13 of 14 from the field for a 92.5 percent shooting percentage. On her career night, Murdoch’s individual effort put her into the record books as her shooting percentage was a DU single-game record.
In addition, Murdoch also shot 7 of 7 from the line and had eight rebounds, four blocks and two assists. Following the weekend, Murdoch had 1,698 career points, which puts her in third place on the Pioneers’ all-time scoring list.
In the same game, junior guard Emiko Smith had nine assists and nine points. Freshman guard Morgan Van Riper-Rose also contributed nine points and fellow freshman Jordan Johnston came off the bench and had five assists and forced two turnovers.
As a team, Denver was 25 of 49 from the floor and 18 of 19 from the line.
At the beginning of the second half, Denver was leading Arkansas State by 15 points. They were able to increase this lead to 17 points, only to lose it and fall behind by one point when Arkansas State went on a 23-11 run. Head coach Erik Johnson took full responsibility for this loss of the lead.
“I managed that lead poorly from a coaching standpoint, and even though we gave it away, our kids never stopped believing in each other,” said Johnson.
The Crimson and Gold battled their way back and with 1:03 left in the game, Murdoch completed a three-point play after a foul, and the team was able to capitalize on free-throw opportunities to seal the game with a final score of 73-61.
“I give all credit to the players,” said Johnson. “They were able to find ways to score even as Arkansas State made key adjustments to try and stop us.”
On Saturday, the Pioneers took their four-game winning streak to Arkansas-Little Rock, where they won 60-50. The win was crucial for the Pioneers because the two teams were tied for first in the SBC West Division and the UALR Trojans were also coming off a four-game win streak.
Murdoch and Van Riper-Rose led the team with 15 points each. Smith added nine points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, getting close to a triple-double this game. Sophomore forward Maiya Michel had a game-high nine rebounds.
Once again, Denver started with a decisive lead. This time, however, they never let their lead dwindle to fewer than six points. As a team, the Pioneers shot 56 percent from the field and held Arkansas Little-Rock to only 25 percent.
“I could not be more proud of the team,” said coach Johnson.
Members of the team are still battling some injuries, including Murdoch, who has been playing through a knee injury and is still not completely healed. Junior guard Morgan Shell has also been coping with an ongoing hamstring injury. Quincey Noonan, who broke a bone in her right hand in the game against ULM on Jan. 19, will be out for 4-6 weeks.
On Wednesday, the Crimson and Gold are back on the road to Louisiana-Lafayette to go up against the Ragin’ Cajuns at 6 p.m. before hosting Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 4 p.m in Magness Arena.
Middle Tennessee is 16-5 so far this season and 8-0 in conference. The Blue Raiders are leading the East Division of the SBC.
