TULSA, OKLA. -  The University of Denver women's basketball team fell 74-66 to Oral Roberts on Wednesday evening. The loss in DU's third-straight and drops the Pioneers to 12-11 overall and 5-5 in the Summit League while ORU improves to 13-11 and 6-5 in the Summit League.

Madison Nelson led the team with 16 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, two steals and one assists.

Lauren Loven had 15 points including five 3s. The junior has now broken her own single-season record for 3s made (83) that she set during her freshman season.

Samantha Romanowski finished with 10 points and six assists. The senior has now eclipsed the 1,000 point-mark for her career.

DU opened the game with a 10-5 outburst to gain the early lead but ORU scored four-straight prior to the media timeout to trail by just one. Out of the break  Sarah Garvie hit from long-range to give Oral Roberts its first lead of the game at 12-10. The Eagle run continued with six-consecutive points to extend their lead to 18-10 with 1:21 left in the period.

Denver closed the gap with just over a minute to play after Sydney Mech hit from 3 but ORU got a jumper from Lakota Beatty to put the Eagles up 20-13 at the end of one.

Head coach Jim Turgeon's team settled down in the first few minutes of the second quarter, using an 11-5 run to cut the deficit to 25-24 at the media timeout. After the timeout Nelson's layup put Denver back in front for the first time since the 3:52 mark of the first quarter.

The Eagles showed no panic during the Pio run, answering with a 10-0 stretch to quickly regain a nine point lead with 2:20 left in the half. Trailing 35-26 Denver saw ORU push the lead to 12 at 42-30 just before the half. In the half, Denver shot 12-of-29 (41.4 percent) while Oral Roberts was 16-of-37 (43.2 percent) from the floor.

ORU opened the third quarter with a jumper from Montserrat Brotons to extend the lead to 14 but Denver used a 10-5 spurt to cut the deficit to single digits at the media break. ORU responded out of the timeout, ripping off a 7-2 quarter-ending run to regain a double-digit lead at 56-42.

The teams traded blows in the first five-plus minutes of the final quarter, as the Eagles led 64-50 at the media timeout. With 4:56 left in the game Denver went on an 11-3 run which included two 3s from Romanowski and one from Loven, making the score 68-62 with 1:58 left. The Pios continued to fight in the last two minutes but were unable to cut further into the ORU lead.

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Play4Kay Game:
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