DENVER – The 2018-19 Denver women's basketball season was packed with team and individual accomplishments in head coach Jim Turgeon's second year at the helm. The Pioneers reached 18 wins for the first time since the 2011-12 season and finished with a winning record in the Summit League for the first time since joining back in 2013-14.

Denver's season was filled with great moments, but the most notable came at New Mexico in the opening round of the WNIT. The Pioneers, playing in their first NCAA sanctioned postseason game since 2010, and only their third in school history, knocked off the Lobos (24-6) who had lost just one game at home all season. The 83-75 victory marked the first Division I postseason victory in program history, improving Denver's record to 1-2 all time.

A STATISTICAL REVIEW:

Turgeon, who has led DU to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2010-11 & 2011-12 seasons, led the Pioneers to numerous individual and school records. His team featured an offense that averaged 80.3 points per game (11^th in the NCAA & third most in school history) and 9.3 3s per game (12^th in the NCAA) while shooting 38.6 percent from downtown (third in the NCAA & second highest in school history). Both numbers move the 2018-19 Pioneers into the top-10 of the Summit League record book, sitting in sixth for 3 point percentage and 10^th in points per game.

This year's Pioneer team scored 2,568 total points, easily breaking the previous school record of 2,311 points set back in 1979-80. They smashed another school record, dropping in 297 total 3s, taking the top spot from last year's team who hit 256 3s. Overall, Denver broke into the top-10 of school rankings in 20 of the 32 statistical categories including top-5 in points, 3s made, scoring average, 3 point percentage, field goals made, free throws made, free throw percentage, offensive rebounds, total rebounds, assists, blocked shots and blocks per game.

Turgeon's team also worked themselves into the top-100 in the nation in 16 categories including top-20 marks in 3 point field goal percentage (3^rd in the NCAA), points per game (11^th in the NCAA), 3s per game (12^th in the NCAA), 3s made (17^th in the NCAA), blocked shots (19^th in the NCAA) and blocks per game (20^th in the NCAA).

A SCHEDULE REVIEW:

The Pios opened the season 6-1, with their lone loss coming at in-state opponent Northern Colorado. During the stretch, DU knocked off UMKC, Air Force, American, Lamar, St. Bonaventure and Loyola Marymount. In the win against Lamar, Turgeon's team scored a school record 117 points in a hectic double-overtime game.

Denver then hit the road for five-straight games including matchups against New Mexico State and Nebraska. DU fell in the opening game at Wyoming, 78-74 but bounced back to edge out a 71-70 victory at Southern Utah to improve to 7-2 on the season. After a 66-64 loss at New Mexico State, Denver fell 96-71 at Nebraska and 87-83 to Samford for its first three game losing streak of the season. The tough times continued when the Pios lost 84-79 at Colorado State, dropping DU to 7-6 in its non-conference portion of the schedule.

The Crimson and Gold got back on track with a 95-68 win over Omaha to open league play, but a loss at Western Illinois dropped them to 1-1 in the league. One of DU's signature victories came next, as the Pios knocked off South Dakota 104-99, the program's first win over the Coyotes since the 2014-15 season. Denver then made it back-to-back wins, downing North Dakota 87-66 to move to 3-1 in the Summit.

The Pios took to the road for a matchup with league-leading South Dakota State where the Jacks would hand Denver its second loss in the Summit. DU got back to winning ways with two-straight home victories over North Dakota State (81-54) and Oral Roberts (93-76) but three consecutive losses dropped Denver to 6-5 in league play with six games remaining in the regular season.

Denver would go on to win five of its final six games including wins over North Dakota (92-91) and Western Illinois (94-85) to lock up the third seed in the Summit League tournament. The Pios would face North Dakota for the third time in the opening round of the league tournament and despite a double-digit third quarter lead, Denver would fall 80-67.

Luckily for the Pioneers, both South Dakota State (AQ) and South Dakota (At Large) were selected to the 2019 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament leaving the WNIT automatic qualifying bid to Coach Turgeon's team. Denver was selected to a Division I postseason tournament for just the third time in school history and first time since 2010.

Denver took full advantage of that opportunity when the Pioneers got matched up against Mountain West foe New Mexico in round one. The Lobos featured three all-conference players and the conference player of the year in Jaisa Nunn. The Pioneers shot 32-of-79 (40.5 percent) from the floor and 11-of-33 (33.3 percent) from downtown while holding New Mexico to 5-of-27 from downtown en route to their first postseason victory in program history. Denver took on Idaho in round two and held an early lead but an explosive third quarter from the Vandals ended the Pioneers' historic season.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:  

Junior forward Madison Nelson led the Pioneers in scoring and rebounding during the season, averaging 16.5 points and 8.9 boards while making 31 starts. She scored a career-high 28 points against Loyola Marymount and Omaha while recording a league-high 10 double-doubles. Nelson was the first Summit League player to reach that mark since the 2014-15 season and first in Denver's Division I history. She was named second-team all-league after finishing first in rebounding, third in scoring, fourth in scoring and sixth in blocks. Nelson finished the season ranked 38^th in free throws made, 43^rd in free throw attempts and 72^nd in rebounds per game in the NCAA Rankings.

Senior Samantha Romanowski stepped up in a major way, guiding the Pioneer offense from the point guard position. Her season was filled with many milestones, including a career-high 33 points at Nebraska and eclipsing the 1,000 career-point mark at Oral Roberts. She started all 32 games for the Pioneers, averaging a league-high 5.9 assists while scoring 11.8 points and grabbing 3.6 rebounds. Romanowski ended the year ranked 11^th in assists per game, 15^th in total assists and 112^th in total minutes played in the NCAA Rankings. She was named to the Summit League honorable mention team.

Junior Lauren Loven joined Romanowski in the 1,000 career-point club, eclipsing the mark in Denver's final game of the year at Idaho. The guard from Scottsdale was one of the most prolific 3-point shooter's in the nation. She finished the year sixth in 3s per game, seventh in 3s made and eighth in 3-point percentage while breaking both the Denver and Summit League single season record for 3s made in season (111). Loven scored a career-high 32 points, hitting six 3s while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Her spectacular season was rewarded as Loven was also named to the Summit League honorable mention team.

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