DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team cruised to an 87-66 win over North Dakota on Saturday evening. With the win, DU improves to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in the league while North Dakota drops to 7-9 and 2-1 in the Summit League.

Lauren Loven followed up a 32-point performance on Thursday night in Denver's win over [RV] South Dakota with 24 points Saturday night, two rebounds and three assists. She went 7-of-9 from the floor, 6-of-8 from downtown and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line.

Samantha Romanowski had 16 points and seven assists and has now reached double figures in six of her last seven games.

Madison Nelson produced 13 points and eight rebounds over 25 minutes of action.

North Dakota burst out of the gates with a 9-3 run over the first four-plus minutes of the game but 12-straight points for DU allowed head coach Jim Turgeon's squad to settle into the contest. After Denver extended their lead to eight, the Fighting Hawks responded with an 8-0 stretch to tie the game at 17.

On the final possession of the quarter Nelson corralled an offensive board and laid it in to give the Pioneers a 19-17 advantage after one.

The Crimson and Gold exploded in the second quarter, hitting five 3s in the first 2:50 to stretch their lead to 14 halfway through the second. Denver's hot shooting slowed down but the Pioneers were able to extend the lead to 16 with 2:27 left in the half.

North Dakota stayed in striking distance with a quarter-ending 8-2 stretch to make the score 47-37 after two periods. Romanowski led the squad with 13 points and four assists while Loven added 12 points.

Loven kicked off the second half with another 3-pointer to extend Denver's lead to 13 with over nine minutes to play in the quarter. Despite shooting just 38.5 percent from the floor, DU used solid defense to hold the double-digit lead after three. Junior forward Courtney Smith had eight points in the quarter to lead the team.

DU opened the final quarter with a 12-4 outburst to put a stranglehold on the contest. North Dakota continued to claw back but could only get within 15 points of the Denver lead.

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