Lafayette, La. – Senior Tyesha Lowery hit a jumper with three seconds remaining to give Denver the lead and a 62-60 win over Arkansas Little-Rock in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday at the Cajundome.
Junior Brooke Meyer tied the game with a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining.
Lowery scored 11 of DU’s final 16 points as the Pioneers mounted a 16-3 run to close out the victory and a semifinal matchup against No. 17 Middle Tennessee on Monday.
Denver trailed by as many as 15 in the second half but the Pioneers kept chipping away, getting within eight four times before mounting the comeback.
Lowery hit a layup at 4:08 to begin the Pioneers’ offensive surge and Denver’s nationally ranked defense held Little Rock to 1-of-4 from the field and forced three turnovers, all DU steals, during that time.
“Our defense wasn’t working in the first half,” DU coach Pam Tanner said. “Actually, not much was working in the first half. We made a call early in the second half to change to a zone defense. I don’t know how UALR could have made an adjustment to that defense because we haven’t run that defense in over a year.”
UNLV 63, COLORADO STATE 58 at Fort Collins: A four-point lead with 6:34 remaining wasn’t nearly enough for the Colorado State women when the Rams failed to score again until 12 seconds remained.
After shooting less than 30 percent in the first half and trailing by as many as seven points, Sara Hunter, Kelly Finley and Emily Neal combined to lift CSU to a 47-40 lead. The Rams reverted to their turnover-plagued form and freshman Juanice Cornell fouled out with 7:49 left on a call that drew the ire of the crowd and CSU coach Jen Warden.
Finley, who played 38 minutes despite chronic stress fractures, scored a layup and free throw for a 55-51 lead. UNLV took it from there led by Sequoia Holmes 20 points and 13 rebounds.
“I don’t want to say we got complacent,” Hunter said. “It’s a hard one to lose in the last five minutes.”
CSU senior center Marilyn Moulton, the lone survivor of a five-member signing class, and former walk-on Justine French were honored in their final game at Moby Arena.
CSU (8-20, 3-13) finished eighth in the Mountain West Conference and will play last-place Air Force on Tuesday in the MWC Tournament play-in game. The winner faces league champion BYU on Wednesday.
Northern Colorado senior forward Heather Barbour reached 1,000 career points, but so did Portland State sophomore forward Kelsey Kahle as the Bears lost their regular-season finale.
Northern Colorado finished its first season in the Big Sky 5-24 and 2-14 in conference.
Sophomore guard Whitley Cox led Northern Colorado with 29 points, including 21 in the second half to keep the Bears within striking distance after trailing by 17 at halftime.
Barbour also had 20. Senior center Nicole Ford and junior center Dani Veal both had nine rebounds to tie for the game high.
– Natalie Meisler, staff writer
WYOMING 62, UTAH 53 at Salt Lake City: Justyna Podziemska scored 25 points as the Cowgirls (20-8, 11-5 MWC) swept the Utes (17-12, 10-6) in regular-season play for the first time since 1989-90.
“This was a remarkable college basketball game,” Wyoming coach Joe Legerski said.
