The University of Denver women’s basketball team split its final two home games of the season last weekend, losing to Middle Tennessee State (17-10, 12-4 SBC) 81-77 Thursday, but bouncing back Sunday against the University of New Orleans (12-15, 6-10 SBC) for a 72-44 victory.
DU’s overall record stands at 11-16 and 6-10 in SBC play.
Thursday night’s contest against the Blue Raiders was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Middle Tennessee utilized a relentless 2-2-1 trapping full-court press and intense man-to-man defense to speed up the Pioneers and force 16 first-half turnovers. Many of those turnovers led to easy baskets for the Blue Raiders. The Pioneers were outscored 42-22 in the first half and trailed by as much as 24.
“We had 32 turnovers the first time we played them, so obviously we are making progress,” said Head Coach Pat Tanner after the game. “We weren’t running our breaker like we should’ve in the first half.”
DU outscored MT 21-2 on fast break points and outscored the Blue Raiders by 16 in the second half. The Pioneers started the second half with an 8-2 run capped by an Alisha Godette three pointer to cut the deficit to 16 within the first three minutes.
The NCAA’s leading scorer Amber Holt finished the game with 32 points on 12-20 shooting and added 11 rebounds, the ninth time this year she has scored over 30 points in a game.
“The thing about Amber Holt is she can do everything: post you up, drive the lane, dish out assists, and shoot the three,” said Tanner.
Effectively running their press breaker, the Pioneers went on a 14-3 run to close the gap to seven after a Nnenna Akotaobi three point play with 1:08 left in the game. However, Middle Tennessee State made seven of their last ten free throws to hold off the Pioneers.
However, all was not lost Thursday. Senior Sara Benham passed the 1,000 point plateau for her DU career on a lay-up with 14:07 to go in the second half. She finished the game with six points and six rebounds.
“Looking back, it feels great. As a freshman, I was able to get considerable minutes and valuable experience that helped me reach this mark,” said Benham. On Sunday afternoon, the Pioneers rebounded with a 72-44 victory over the Privateers from the University of New Orleans. Throughout the game, DU employed fierce man-to-man defense that held the Privateers to 18 first half points, shooting only 27% from the field.
The Pioneers opened the game on a 17-6 run.
Junior Andie Mason led the Pioneers and tied a career high with 17 points including shooting 4-6 from three point range.
“This week we really worked on making the extra pass and finding the open player,” said Mason. “Today it was really a team effort and just working within our offense to get the shots we wanted.”
Facing a 13 point deficit at halftime, New Orleans attempted to turn up their pressure on their press with hopes of getting some easy baskets. However, the Pioneers broke their press with ease, leading to a 20-9 run to open the second half and extend their lead to 51-27.
“I think we used the momentum from the second half against Middle Tennessee to fire us up for today,” said Tanner after the game.
The added emotion of Senior Day probably contributed to the rout of New Orleans. “Being Senior Day, there’s going to be a lot of energy and pressure to win. Everybody came together today and used that pressure to come away with a team victory,” said senior guard Brooke Meyer. Meyer finished with nine points, three rebounds, and three assists in her last game at Magness.
The Pioneers travel to Little Rock, Arkansas and Louisiana-Lafayette this Thursday and Saturday respectively
