DENTON, Texas - Led by a 14-point effort from freshman Jordan Johnston (Waterloo, Iowa), the University of Denver women's basketball team defeated the University of North Texas 50-44 on Saturday evening from The Super Pit in Denton, Texas. The win improves the Pioneers to 13-8 overall, 5-2 in SBC play, while UNT falls to 11-9, 4-3 in SBC.

Along with Johnston's 14 points, junior Emiko Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) finished with 12 points, five assists and six rebounds. Senior Kaetlyn Murdoch (Temple, Texas) finished with 10 points to round out the double-figure scoring while sophomore Maiya Michel (Loma Linda, Calif.) finished nine rebounds.

"We competed against a very tough North Texas team and I'm proud of the resiliency of this team," said head coach Erik Johnson. "We were able to turn things around in the second half and play our style of basketball. Jordan Johnston had a great night for us, stepping up when we needed some big-time baskets."

After struggling in the first half and trailing UNT 22-16 at the break, the Pioneers came out of the gate with a 10-0 run to take a 26-22 lead less than four minutes into the action. UNT was able to tie the game twice until the Pioneers strung together a 13-2 run that started at the 12:15 mark and lasted till the 5:14 mark. The run included back-to-back three-pointers by Johnston, the first and only three-pointer of the entire game.

The Mean Green snapped the run with a lay-up by Jasmine Godbolt, but the Pioneers answered as Smith sank both her free-throw attempts to give DU an 11-point lead with 4:31 on the clock. Denver extended its lead by a game-high 15 points as freshman Morgan Van Riper-Rose (Eden Prairie, Minn.) converted a jumper with 4:28 left, followed by a lay-up from Murdoch with 3:46 remaining.

Despite being down by 15 points, the Mean Green continued to pressure the Pioneers as the final minutes ticked down. UNT strung together a 12-3 run to chip away at DU's lead to finish the game trailing by six.

Sara Stanley and Brittney Hudson both lead the Mean Green with eight points each, while Tamara Torru led the team with nine rebounds.

Denver lead the way with a 40.8 shooting percentage from the field, compared to UNT's 30.0 percent. The Mean Green, however out-rebounded the Pioneers 41-34.

The Pioneers return home to host Arkansas State on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. at Magness Arena. The game will be available on Pioneer Vision, Live Stats and via a Live Blog through CoverItLive, all through DenverPioneers.com.