DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team battled to the end with North Dakota, ultimately falling 90-82 on Wednesday night in Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers fell to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in the Summit League.

Freshman Uju Ezeudu and senior Madison Nelson led the Pioneers, each posting a double-double. Ezeudu recorded the third of her career with a career-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Nelson notched her 10th this season and 22nd of her career with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while also tallying four assists and four steals.

Claire Gritt added 13 points and Briana Johnson added 11 points in the loss.

North Dakota went on a 6-0 run in the first three minutes of play to jump out to a 10-4 lead and force a Denver timeout. Nelson hit a jumper at the 5:54 mark of the first quarter to end a 2:22 scoring drought, making the score 12-6 in favor of UND. The Pioneers ended the first shooting 7-of-7 from the field, including a Johnson layup with six seconds to go in the opening quarter, knotting the game at 22-22.

The Denver defense held the Fighting Hawks without a field goal for the final 2:38 of the first quarter.

Julia Fleecs hit a 3 just 14 seconds into the second quarter to give UND the 25-22 lead. After North Dakota held the lead for the first 6:13 of the quarter, Gritt finished an and-one to tie the game at 40 all.

The two teams saw five lead changes and two ties over a 2:06 span late in the second quarter.

DU's defense came up big in the closing 1:06 of the first half, forcing three turnovers as Ezeudu sent the game to the break with a layup in the final six seconds at a 51-49 advantage for UND.

An Ezeudu layup at the 5:36 mark ended a 2:27 Denver scoring drought to bring the Pioneers within four, 57-53 in the third. With 1:46 to play in the quarter, Kacie Borowicz finished a layup to give UND the first double-digit lead of the game at 67-57. Ezeudu converted an and-one with 30 seconds left in the third to cut the DU deficit to 68-67 going into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Fighting Hawks took an eight-point lead over the first 5:02 of play in the fourth quarter with a 13-6 run. UND eventually extended their lead to 10, 86-76, with 1:04 to play. With under 30 seconds to play, Meghan Boyd found Nelson for a layup to make the North Dakota lead 86-80 but it was too late as UND held on for the win.

UP NEXT
Denver travels to Vermillion, South Dakota for a noon (MT) matchup with South Dakota on Jan. 5.

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