DENVER - The University of Denver women's basketball team (5-5) outlasted the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (2-8) 46-41 on Wednesday evening in Magness Arena as juniors Brianna Culberson (Jefferson City, Mo.) and Britteni Rice (Pampa, Texas) led the Pioneers with 12 points apiece. The win extends the Pioneers streak to four games.

"It wasn't our best performance tonight, but I'm proud of the way our team handled themselves and found a way to win even though we were not playing well," said head coach Erik Johnson. "I have to give NAU a lot of credit because they came in here with a great game plan. They doubled our post players and really forced us to play a perimeter game."

To go along with her 12 points, Culberson also finished with 10 rebounds to record her second career double-double. Senior Ashly Robinson (Bloomington, Minn.) led the way off the glass as she grabbed 11 boards for her second consecutive game with double-digit rebounds.

Amy Patton led the scoring efforts for the Lumberjacks as she finished with 16 points to go along with Caty Huntington's 10 points off the bench.

Trailing the Pioneers 22-15 coming out of the break, NAU went on an 18-11 run that spanned 11:35 to tie the game 33-33. After both teams exchanged points, NAU took a four-point advantage off jumpers by Tyler Stephens-Jenkins and Patton with 5:42 remaining in the second half.

However, Rice rattled off five-consecutive points to give Denver a one point advantage with 4:59 left. Neither team was able to score for the next three minutes until sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) put the Pioneers ahead by three with her second lay-up of the night.

The Lumberjacks answered back on the next run up the court off another jumper by Patton, but Murdoch sealed the win as she converted all four of her free-throw attempts to put the Pioneers ahead by five and extend their win streak to four straight games.

Next up, Denver welcomes the Montana State Bobcats for a 1:30 p.m. Saturday double-header match-up as the Pioneer men will take on SBC foe Louisiana-Monroe immediately following. The game will be available on Pioneer Vision and Live Stats at www.DenverPioneers.com.

Pioneer Notes:

• Sophomore Kaetlyn Murdoch extended her consecutive games with one or more blocks to 17 games as she finished the night with two blocks. She finished the night with eight points, ending her consecutive games with double figure points at 12 games.
• Junior Brianna Culberson recorded her second career double-double as she finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
• Denver held the advantage in rebounds (39 to 34) and blocks (5 to 3) over NAU.
• Denver is currently sporting a four-game win streak heading into its match-up with Montana State.

- PIONEERS -