DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team rolled past Wyoming to earn its first victory of the season with a 71-57 win on Thursday night in Hamilton Gymnasium.

"I am very pleased with the defense tonight and we were making the extra pass for the first time this year," said head coach Jim Turgeon. "We were playing together and we can be pretty good when we do that."

For the second straight game, senior forward Madison Nelson posted a double-double with a game-high 17 points and season-best 14 rebounds. Junior forward Jasmine Jeffcoat provided a spark off the bench with a season-high 16 points. Freshman forward Uju Ezeudu scored 12 points for her third straight game in double-figures.

Turgeon's squad was hitting from downtown, shooting 53.8 percent from behind the arc and out-rebounded the Cowgirls, 44-34.

Wyoming jumped out to an early 7-0 lead two minutes into the contest after Denver missed its first five shots of the game. At the 6:20 mark, Claire Gritt found Lauren Loven at the top of the arc to cut the Pioneer deficit to four. Following the media timeout at the four-minute mark, Meghan Boyd hit a three to put Denver up 13-10. The Cowgirls closed the quarter on a 10-4 run, heading into the second quarter ahead, 20-17.

Denver came out of the quarter break firing, sparking an 11-2 run over the first 3:11. After a back-and-forth second that saw the teams trading baskets, Loven hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Crimson and Gold a 40-36 lead at the midway mark.

Tereza Vitulova and Quinn Weidemann each hit a shot at the start of the second half to tie the game at 40 apiece for the Cowgirls. As the teams traded baskets for the first two minutes of the half, redshirt junior Briana Johnson found Nelson on the fast break for a layup to give Denver a 44-42 advantage.

The Pioneers never looked back from there after Nelson's layup en route to their 71-57 win.

UP NEXT
The Pioneers host Cal Poly on Sunday at 1 pm (MT) in Hamilton Gymnasium.

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