Box Score

FREEPORT, BAHAMAS - The University of Denver women's basketball team dropped its opening game of the Junkanoo Jam on Friday in a 94-52 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame.

Samantha Romanowski (Mountlake Terrace, Wash.) turned in her best performance of the year, scoring a season-high 14 points. The freshman was a factor from the outside, drilling a season-high four 3s.

Jesse Spittel (Yorba Linda, Calif.) added 11 points and five rebounds, her second straight game scoring in double figures.

The Fighting Irish's Marina Mabrey led all scorers with a game-high 19 points. Mabrey also dished out four assists and picked up four steals.

The Pioneers fought hard early, battling the Fighting Irish in the first five minutes, trailing 10-6 at the first media timeout. Romanowski provided the offense for DU out the gate, knocking down two quick 3-pointers from the right side.

Notre Dame, though, closed out the quarter strong with a 10-3 run after the media timeout to take a 20-9 lead through one quarter of play.

The Fighting Irish kept its attack going in the second quarter, scoring the first eight points to push their lead to 28-9 before a Paige Bradley (The Woodlands, Texas) jumper ended the run.

Hot shooting was the difference for the remainder of the half, with the Notre Dame finding the bottom of the net from all over the floor on offense, en route to a 50-15 lead at the break.

The Fighting Irish were just on fire from the field in the opening half, shooting a blistering 69 percent (20-for-29) while Denver finished at 28.6 percent (6-for-21).

In the second half, the Pioneers were able to put together some good sequences of their own on the offense end, resulting in a team-high 24 points in the third quarter, which was highlighted by a 10-for-20 shooting performance in the hot quarter.

Notre Dame got back to its aggressive ways on the defensive end in fourth to go grab the 94-52 victory.

Up Next

Denver (1-3) closes out the Junkanoo Jam on Friday. The Pioneers will face Louisiana Tech with a tip set for 11 a.m. MT.

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