Denver, CO (Dec. 15, 2001) Three Cougar women scored in double figures to give the BYU women's basketball an 81-67 victory over the University of Denver, Saturday at the Pioneer Classic.
The win improves the Cougars record to 7-3 on the year while the University of Denver falls to 2-6.
BYU All-American Erin Thorn led all scores with her 19 points. Teammates Jennifer Leitner contributed with 17 points and a team high nine rebounds with freshman Danielle Cheesman tallying 10 points before fouling out with just less than five minutes to play in the contest.
With just ten and half minutes left in the game BYU took its first lead 47-46 and never looked back. They extended their lead by 12 points, 63-51 with just over five minutes left and were up by 11 points 69-58 with two and a half minutes showing on the clock to eventually pick up the 14 point, 81-67 victory.
At half time BYU battled back to within two 34-32 after being down in the early minutes of the game.
"We did a great job of coming back in this game," said Cougar head coach Jeff Judkins. "We played especially well after the 12 minute mark in the second half, didn't give them anything and played great defense."
The Cougars finished the night shooting 55 percent from the field and 79 percent from the free-throw line, and holding the Pioneers to just 24 rebounds compared with BYU's 38 for the game.
Melissa Garcia led the University of Denver with 14 points followed by Ashley Atkinson's 12 and points and six rebounds. The Pioneers shot 38 percent from the field and 76 from the free-throw line.
The Cougar team will return home for practices and to take finals before returning to Texas, this time to Ft. Worth to take on TCU on Dec. 22. BYU plays at home on Dec. 29 hosting Southern Utah in a 7 p.m. tip off to finish their December schedule.
Official Basketball Box ScoreBrigham Young University vs University of Denver
12-15-01 4:00 p.m. at Magness Arena, Denver, Colo.
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VISITORS: Brigham Young University 7-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 LEITNER, Jennifer... f 8-13 0-1 1-2 4 5 9 4 17 4 1 0 0 29
23 Rose, Chanell....... f 2-6 0-0 0-1 3 3 6 3 4 0 1 1 1 17
31 Osguthorpe, Lisa.... c 1-2 0-1 1-2 0 2 2 2 3 4 2 0 1 27
11 Thorn, Erin......... g 6-9 5-5 2-2 0 6 6 2 19 6 3 0 1 36
22 Jensen, Stacy....... g 2-4 1-3 2-2 0 4 4 2 7 6 2 0 3 37
05 Lewis, Amy.......... 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1
12 Pearson, Melanie.... 2-6 0-3 0-0 1 2 3 1 4 2 0 1 1 20
20 Larson, Brittany.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 5
25 Taylor, Kali........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
45 Hansen, Lisa........ 3-4 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 3 8 0 1 1 0 5
50 Cheesman, Heather... 0-1 0-1 2-2 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 5
51 Cheesman, Danielle.. 5-9 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 5 10 0 1 1 0 16
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 30-55 6-14 15-19 10 28 38 22 81 23 14 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-30 46.7% 2nd Half: 16-25 64.0% Game: 54.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-6 33.3% Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 15-19 78.9% Game: 78.9% 2
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HOME TEAM: University of Denver 2-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 HART, Stephanie..... f 1-2 0-0 3-4 0 0 0 2 5 3 1 0 0 21
35 ATKINSON, Ashley.... f 3-8 3-4 3-4 1 5 6 3 12 0 1 0 1 30
55 STATON, Misty....... c 3-6 0-1 3-5 2 3 5 4 9 3 3 0 2 34
05 WEDDLE, Nikki....... g 1-5 1-4 4-6 0 2 2 3 7 2 4 0 0 20
22 GARCIA, Melissa..... g 5-12 2-5 2-2 1 1 2 2 14 3 1 0 2 36
00 CYRAN, Sarah........ 2-6 0-0 5-6 1 3 4 1 9 2 1 1 2 15
02 NEBLETT, Ragan...... 2-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 3 5 0 1 0 0 10
04 EASON, Nicky........ 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4
14 JONES, Shelley...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
21 JONES, Tasha........ 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 19
24 LOWERY, Tyesha...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 5
44 CARWELL, Kellie..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 19-50 7-17 22-29 8 16 24 20 67 15 15 1 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-26 46.2% 2nd Half: 7-24 29.2% Game: 38.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 41.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 16-18 88.9% Game: 75.9% 3
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Officials: Lorenzo Alvarez, Brent Duguid, Artrail Tillman
Technical fouls: Brigham Young University-None. University of Denver-None.
Attendance: 598
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young University...... 32 49 - 81
University of Denver.......... 34 33 - 67
BYU - D Cheesman foulded out 4:47
