In what may have been the breakout game they had been looking for, the University of Denver upset Colorado State in a 77-58 rout Wednesday night at Magness Arena.
That not only put an emphatic end to the 10-game losing streak in the series that CSU leads 13-3, it put an end to a four-game losing streak for the Pioneers.
But before they got there, the Pioneers had to break out of their 1-for-16 shooting slump to start the game.
For that, they used a stifling defense that produced 21 turnovers, the 3-point shooting of guard Brooke Meyer late in the first half, and a 61.3 percent shooting performance in the second half, led by guard Tyesha Lowery and forward Venice Adams.
It was as if the Pioneers suddenly got good against a CSU team that had won four straight.
“We did get good tonight,” DU coach Pam Tanner said. “It’s big obviously because of the in-state team that we beat. But I also think that our kids now will have a little more trust in each other and what they can do as a group, a little bit more faith in the philosophy because they did exactly what we asked them to do and they won a ballgame by a lot of points. So it could be a breakout game for us.”
The Pioneers (2-4) were down 20-8 12 minutes into the first half when Meyer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to six at the seven-minute mark. She hit another with three minutes left to make it 26-23. A coast- to-coast layup with a stolen pass by Lowry brought the Pioneers within one at halftime, and when Meyer hit another 3-pointer to open the second half, they were off on a 52-32 run.
So solid was DU’s defense the Rams (4-2) didn’t shoot a free throw in the first 30 minutes.
“Defensively we had a really good game plan, and every member of the team executed the game plan,” Tanner said. “We ran the triangle for four years, so we know it and we knew we had to pick our poison. We picked to … rush the shooters outside, and it worked for us.”
CSU coach Jen Warden agreed.
“They took away our inside-out game,” she said. “I don’t think not getting to the free-throw line was anything but not getting ourselves to the free-throw line. We weren’t attacking hard enough to get to the free-throw line.”
COLORADO STATE (4-2)
Nohr 7-10 0-1 16, Dennett 4-11 0-0 8, Thomas 3-11 2-2 8, Hunter 3-8 0-0 6, Espinoza 4-14 2-2 11, Kramer 1-4 0-0 2, Shepherd 0-1 0-0 0, Samuelson 0-0 0-0 0, Moulton 2-4 3-3 7. Totals 24-63 7-8 58.
DENVER (2-4)
Adams 3-6 7-8 13, Benham 3-13 0-0 6, Meyer 4-7 2-2 14, Cole 5-14 0-0 13, Lowery 7-11 1-4 16, Hurtado 0-0 0-0 0, Winter 0-0 0-0 0, Butler 0-0 0-0 0, Mason 0-0 0-0 0, Akotaobi 2-8 3-4 7, Jasperson 1-3 0-0 2, Reini 2-2 2-3 6. Totals 27-64 15-21 77.
Halftime – Colorado St. 26-25. 3-point goals – Colorado St. 3-10 (Nohr 2-2, Espinoza 1-4, Kramer 0-1, Hunter 0-3); Denver 8-20 (Meyer 4-6, Cole 3-9, Lowery 1-2, Benham 0-1, Akotaobi 0-2). Fouled out – Thomas; Akotaobi. Rebounds – Colorado St. 46 (Thomas 13); Denver 36 (Benham 9). Assists – Colorado St. 13 (Espinoza 5); Denver 17 (Lowery 7). Total fouls – Colorado St. 19; Denver 13. A – 709.
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
