Photo: Denver WHoops Twitter
They’ve made it there three times before – the postseason that is. But this year, an unlikely Pioneer squad went on the road in the NIT to Albuquerque and defeated an excellent New Mexico Squad, 83-75, for their first tournament win.
Denver women’s basketball was a mess when Jim Turgeon took the reins of the floundering program two years ago. He brought in coaches Kayla Ard, Terry Moyers and Tommy Johnson and they turned around the program’s fortunes in only two seasons, going from 6-24 to 18-13 this season, and hanging in nearly every game.
Denver had a solid first half of Thursday night’s contest and held the lead at half.
Hey, you like highlights? Well of course you do! So here's some highlights from fast-paced opening 20 minutes #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/3KqfCkm3CN
— Denver Women's Hoops (@DU_WHoops) March 22, 2019
For the game, Denver nailed 11 three-pointers and was perfect from the charity stripe (8 for 8) in the NIT victory. Denver held the lead after the first 30 seconds of the game and led wire-to-wire. It was a team effort as DU generated a whopping 24 assists for the game. Junior Madison Nelson led the Pioneers with 27 points on 55% shooting and 12 rebounds. Junior Lauren Loven had 21 points and senior Samantha Romanowski had 13 points and 9 assists.
STILL DANCING!#PlayHST #PioneerTogether pic.twitter.com/eqwza5NBsA
— Denver Women's Hoops (@DU_WHoops) March 22, 2019
The Lobos finish 24-7 for the year. And, Denver keeps playing in March. A great win for Head Coach Jim Turgeon and DU women’s hoops.
The Pioneers take to the road Sunday against the Idaho Vandals at 3:00 MT in the second round of the NIT.
Super proud of this team. Has to be a major upset since New Mexico has 24 in the win column. Next stop–Moscow! Not that one! Moscow, Idaho, to face the 21-11 Idaho Vandals.
Nothing short of an amazing turnaround in just the second year of the Turgeon era, and the Pios have done it with mostly Cremeans’ recruits, too. Just imagine how good they will be when the staff gets a full roster of their own players….
To bus 450 miles down to the Pit in Albuquerque and beat UNM in front of their 3,000 fans is no easy task, when you are used to playing in front of 400 friends and family here at DU.
This really cool. Congrats to Turgeon and the team. 18 wins and now a 1st-round W in the NIT. It’s abundantly clear this program is heading in the right direction.