DENVER Sophomore guard Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) led all players with 15 points as the University of Denver women’s basketball team (9-6, 4-1 SBC) defeated visiting Louisiana-Monroe (10-6, 3-2 SBC) 58-47 on Sunday afternoon at Magness Arena.

 

Following her record-breaking 13-block performance in Denver’s 64-63 win over Arkansas State, freshman forward Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) took two early fouls and played only four minutes in the first half. Murdoch finished with nine points, five blocks, four rebounds and four fouls against the Warhawks.

 

Senior guards Celena Otero (Aurora, Colo.) and Andie Mason (Gilbert, Ariz.) each added seven points as well. Otero also finished with six rebounds, three assists and a career-high two blocked shots, while Mason chipped in three rebounds and two steals. 

 

“We tried to talk about being disciplined so that they don’t continuously make runs on us,” head coach Erik Johnson said. “Louisiana-Monroe is a great basketball team and they were not just going to give-up and let us win this game. We had to fight for each basket and even though we didn’t play our best game, we played together as a team and that’s what helped us win.”

 

Louisiana-Monroe received 13 points from both Jesse Carrier and Lottie Moore.

 

After ULM led by as many as six in the opening 10 minutes, the Pioneers erupted on a 13-2 run over a 4:18 span to take a seven-point 23-16 lead with 5:40 remaining in the half. DU took the seven-point lead into the break, leading 27-20.

 

Rice had seven points for the Pioneers, who shot 11-for-23 (47.4 percent) from the field in the first half. Meanwhile, ULM’s Moore led all players with nine points in the opening stanza as the Warhawks went 9-for-33 (27.3) in field goals.

 

The Warhawks opened the second half on an 8-4 run over the first 6:12 to trim Denver’s lead to three, 31-28. However, after the teams exchanged four points to bring the score to 35-32 with 9:30 remaining, the Pioneers used an 8-0 run over a 2:17 span to extend their lead to 11, 43-32.

 

ULM shot back with a 9-2 streak to cut DU’s lead back to three at 44-41 with 4:50 on the clock, but Murdoch then made two layups followed by five straight points from Otero to give Denver a 53-41 lead with 52 seconds to play.

 

Despite last minute efforts by the Warhawks, the Pioneers held on for the 58-47 win. The victory marked the team’s third consecutive win and fourth in its last five games.

 

Denver begins a three-game road stretch with a pair of Sun Belt games at North Texas and Florida International this week. The Pioneers take on the Mean Green on Wednesday, Jan. 14 before facing FIU on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. MT. The Pioneers will then travel to Orem, Utah to take on Utah Valley State on Jan. 21 in a non-conference match-up.

 

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