Nov. 30, 2002

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawai'i - A day after Denver University set a school record for futility in an 85-29 loss to defending NCAA champion University of Connecticut, the Pioneers scored more than 50 points for the first time in four outings this season in a 62-43 win over Gonzaga University in a consolation game Saturday of the 24th annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic.

Gonzaga will meet Fordham University of The Bronx, NY, in Sunday's 1 p.m. PST game for 7th and 8th places in the tournament. Fordham (2-2) fell to DePaul University 92-73 on Saturday.

For the second straight outing in Hawai'i the Bulldogs were plagued by poor shooting, especially from the perimeter, in suffering their third loss in four games and falling to 0-2 in the tournament. Gonzaga shot a season-low 28.3 percent from the field on 17-of-60, with starting guards Shannon Mathews (1-for-8) and Triana Allen (0-for-6) going a combined 1-for-14. Gonzaga also connected on just 2-of-18 3-point attempts. The percentage was the lowest since shooting 26.1 percent last year at Saint Mary's (18-for-69) and the 3-point day (11.1 percent) rivaled last year's 1-for-21 for .048 percent at Loyola Marymount University.

Gonzaga grabbed an early 4-2 lead, but the Pioneers went on a 17-3 run in a span of 6:08 to open a 19-7 lead and the Bulldogs never fully recovered. Gonzaga did run off five straight points to cut the deficit to 19-12, but a 12-5 DU push made it 31-17 late in the opening half.

Ashley Anderson's 3-point play with 1:29 to go in the first half and Ashley Burke's basket to start the second half would be the only points Gonzaga would score until 12:53 remained in the contest and Denver leading 49-22. The Bulldogs went 8:36 with just the Burke basket after Anderson's 3-point play. Denver followed Burke's jumper from the left block with 16 straight points to take the 27-point lead, their largest of the night.

The Bulldogs did win the battle of the boards 44-38, but failed to convert most of their 19 offensive rebounds, collecting just 11 second-chance points. DU also took advantage of 25 Gonzaga turnovers for 23 points, while the Bulldogs were able to score only 11 points off 16 Pioneers' miscues.

"I really thought we had a chance to win two games," a disappointed Gonzaga head coach Kelly Graves said. "Denver had been struggling, but they wanted it more than we did today. We continue to struggle on offense."

Gonzaga was held to its lowest point total since a 60-37 loss at Loyola Marymount University during the 2001 season, Graves' first at Gonzaga.

"We have some talented players. I thought we did a decent job defending them, and we won the boards. Our problems are on offense," Graves said.

The Bulldogs did get a pair of double-doubles in the losing effort - Burke scoring a game-high 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while the freshman Anderson contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds. Burke connected on 6-of-12 shots from the field and was the victim of some bad luck as at least three other shots seemed destined to fall only to spin out. Her 10 rebounds were one shy of her career high last season at Sacramento State University. Anderson hit on 5-of-9 shots from the field as she had career highs for both points and rebounds in her young career.

"I thought those two played as well as anybody we had today," Graves said. "But we need to get more consistent play. We're on too much of a roller coaster. I thought we had some better looks in the second half and played a little better, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole."

Following Sunday's contest, the Bulldogs will return home Monday to get ready for a Thursday home game against the University of Texas-Pan American, a contest that begins a stretch of four games in 11 days and is the first of a 6-game home stand in December.