DENVER – Senior Madison Nelson's historic night pushed the University of Denver women's basketball team past Northern Colorado to a 74-55 victory on Wednesday night in Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers improved to 5-3 on the season while the Bears dropped to 3-5.

Nelson was unstoppable on both ends of the floor, posting her seventh straight double-double with 13 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. The senior standout also turned in a stellar night on the defensive end, recording career highs with eight blocks and six steals. The Dover, Minnesota native is the first player in Denver's Division I era (1998-pres.) to post that kind of stat line.

Senior Lauren Loven added 19 points, while junior Claire Gritt tallied 16 points in the win.

Redshirt junior Briana Johnson sparked a 10-0 run for the Pioneers with a layup 50 seconds into the game that led to a Bears timeout. After the Denver defense held Northern Colorado scoreless for the first 3:24 of the game, Bridget Hintz hit a layup to put the Bears on the board. Gritt connected with Loven for an easy layup with 30 seconds left in the opening quarter to give DU an 18-10 lead.

After opening the second quarter on a 2:08 scoring drought, Gritt hit a jumper to put Denver back up by double digits. The Northern Colorado defense held the Pioneers without a field goal for the last 4:29 of the first half, but Denver went to halftime up 31-19.

Head coach Jim Turgeon's squad came out of halftime sinking its first three shots that included two Gritt 3s and a Nelson layup as Denver jumped out to an 18-point lead, 39-21. Following 30 minutes of action, the Crimson and Gold held a 52-35 lead after Johnson made a layup at the buzzer.

Loven hit a jumper at the 7:19 mark of the fourth to give DU a 23-point advantage at 60-37. Brooklyn Evans scored a layup in transition with 2:25 to play and bring Northern Colorado within 12. But the Pioneers dialed up the defense again, holding the Bears without a field goal for the last 2:24 of the game, highlighted by two blocks by Nelson in the final 30 seconds, as they went on to secure the victory.

UP NEXT
Denver hits the road to travel to Lamar for a 1 pm (MT) matchup on Dec. 8 in Beaumont, Texas.

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