Now that the college hockey season is a month old and the college basketball season has started, we are entering the time of year when the University of Denver's Magness Arena serves as our second home. The DU women's basketball season got underway Sunday when the Pioneers met the 10th-ranked Duke Blue Devils in front of a record crowd of 6,635. As expected, the Blue Devils ran away with a
57-37 victory, but the Pioneers didn't go quietly as they actually lead for the majority of the game, including a 27-25 halftime lead. We are proud that DU did not play scared in the face of a superior opponent, and that experience should come in handy late in the season when the Pioneers are fighting Middle Tennessee for the Sun Belt title and a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
Duke turned the game in it's favor thanks to a couple of adjustments it made at halftime. First, it began full court pressure against DU, using its superior athleticism to smother the Pioneers in the backcourt. For most of the second half, DU had great difficulty just getting the ball past midcourt. Second, the Blue Devils switch to an agressive spread zone to take away DU's three-point shot. DU made six three-point shots in the first half, but none in the second. As a result, Duke outscored DU in the second half 32-10, including a 19-0 run that lasted more than 11 minutes.
The game turned out to be a happy homecoming for Abby and Emily Waner, who played their high school ball in the Denver area at ThunderRidge High School. According to the
Rocky Mountain News, father Tim waner purchased more than 400 tickets for friends and family. Last season, Denver averaged only 465 fans per game. The game was also telecast regionally by Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, so we recorded the game at home on our DVR. We have not yet watched that telecast, but thanks to our courtside seats, we're pretty sure we got a little screen time, especially when DU senior point guard Brooke Meyer landed at our feet while diving for a loose ball.
We have a bit of a scheduling conflict on Friday. The DU hockey team is hosting Minnesota State at Magness Arena while the women's basketball team is playing down the road in Colorado Springs against Air Force. We are planning on calling the DU ticket office to see if we can trade in our season tickets to Friday's hockey game (we have the Friday night package this year) for tickets to Game Two of that series on Saturday. That would free us up to see our ladies play on the road without missing the hockey team this weekend. We are also planning on following the ladies to Lamarie on December 1 when they play the Wyoming Cowgirls, the defending WNIT champions.
Now that the college hockey season is a month old and the college basketball season has started, we are entering the time of year when the University of Denver's Magness Arena serves as our second home. The DU women's basketball season got underway Sunday when the Pioneers met the 10th-ranked Duke Blue Devils in front of a record crowd of 6,635. As expected, the Blue Devils ran away with a 57-37 victory, but the Pioneers didn't go quietly as they actually lead for the majority of the game, including a 27-25 halftime lead. We are proud that DU did not play scared in the face of a superior opponent, and that experience should come in handy late in the season when the Pioneers are fighting Middle Tennessee for the Sun Belt title and a birth in the NCAA Tournament.
Duke turned the game in it's favor thanks to a couple of adjustments it made at halftime. First, it began full court pressure against DU, using its superior athleticism to smother the Pioneers in the backcourt. For most of the second half, DU had great difficulty just getting the ball past midcourt. Second, the Blue Devils switch to an agressive spread zone to take away DU's three-point shot. DU made six three-point shots in the first half, but none in the second. As a result, Duke outscored DU in the second half 32-10, including a 19-0 run that lasted more than 11 minutes.
The game turned out to be a happy homecoming for Abby and Emily Waner, who played their high school ball in the Denver area at ThunderRidge High School. According to the Rocky Mountain News, father Tim waner purchased more than 400 tickets for friends and family. Last season, Denver averaged only 465 fans per game. The game was also telecast regionally by Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, so we recorded the game at home on our DVR. We have not yet watched that telecast, but thanks to our courtside seats, we're pretty sure we got a little screen time, especially when DU senior point guard Brooke Meyer landed at our feet while diving for a loose ball.
We have a bit of a scheduling conflict on Friday. The DU hockey team is hosting Minnesota State at Magness Arena while the women's basketball team is playing down the road in Colorado Springs against Air Force. We are planning on calling the DU ticket office to see if we can trade in our season tickets to Friday's hockey game (we have the Friday night package this year) for tickets to Game Two of that series on Saturday. That would free us up to see our ladies play on the road without missing the hockey team this weekend. We are also planning on following the ladies to Lamarie on December 1 when they play the Wyoming Cowgirls, the defending WNIT champions.
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