DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team cruised past North Dakota State, 81-54 on Thursday evening. With the victory, DU improves to 11-8 overall and 4-2 in the Summit League while NDSU drops to 5-12 and 2-3 in league play.

This is the Pioneers' third straight victory over the Bison and the fifth in the last seven matchups.

Madison Nelson led Denver with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. The 27 points are just one shy of her career-high that was set earlier this season against Loyola Marymount.

Samantha Romanowski finished with an all-around solid game of 17 points, five steals, three assists and two rebounds, giving the senior her third game in double-figures in the last four.  

It was a slow start for both teams as they combined to shoot just 6-of-24 over the first eight-plus minutes of play. Despite the struggles from the floor, DU held an 11-4 advantage with just under a minute remaining in the first. NDSU cut the Pioneer lead to five with a 3-pointer and a free throw prior to the quarter break.

Coach Jim Turgeon's squad came out strong in the second, scoring seven of the first nine buckets to push their lead to 15. With 5:47 left in the half, North Dakota State and Denver traded buckets with the Bison getting as close as nine but the Pios were able to take an 11-point advantage into the half.

After shooting just 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) in the first quarter, DU bounced back to shoot 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) from the floor and 3-of-5 from deep in the second.

Nelson led the team with 14 points and four rebounds at the break while Romanowski added 11 points, three assists, three steals and one block.

Denver jump-started the third quarter with an 11-3 outburst to extend the lead to 19 points with 7:58 left in the frame. Following an NDSU timeout, the Pioneer run continued with DU scoring seven straight to push the lead to 26 points halfway through the third.

Both teams cooled off over the remaining five minutes of the quarter as Denver held a 63-36 lead at the end of three. The Pios played great defense in the quarter, holding the Bison to seven points on 1-of-10 (10.0 percent) shooting.

NDSU showed no quit in the final quarter, despite trailing by 27. The Bison got within 21 points of the lead with 8:11 to play but could not get any closer.

Next up: The Pioneers will return home on Sunday, January 20 to host Oral Roberts at 1 p.m. MT in Magness Arena.

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