OMAHA, Neb. – The University of Denver women's basketball team earned a nail-biting 86-80 overtime win over Omaha on Saturday night in Baxter Arena.

Senior Madison Nelson recorded the third 20-20 performance in school history, all recorded by her, with 21 points and a career-high 22 rebounds. The senior added three blocks and two steals.

Lauren Loven was on fire, knocking down a career-high nine 3s in a single-game for a game-high 31 points. The nine 3s is the second most in a single-game in school history.

Both teams traded baskets in the opening 3:09, seeing five lead changes in that span, before Denver took a 14-8 lead to the media timeout. DU closed the first quarter 3-of-4 from the field over the final 2:14 to take a 22-15 advantage to the second quarter.

Omaha opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run over the first 2:10 to cut the Pioneer lead to two. The Crimson and Gold answered with a 7-4 run over a 2:13 span, going to the media timeout up 29-24.

The Mavericks ended the first half on a 9-0 run in the final 3:04 of the first half to go to the break ahead 39-33.

Omaha extended its lead to 10, 48-38, at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter for its largest lead of the game. The Mavs held on to the lead for the entirety of the third quarter to hold a 57-50 lead after three quarters.

The Mavericks were up 62-59 with 5:15 remaining in the game before Loven hit a 3 to tie the game at 62-62 just 17 seconds later.

The two teams traded baskets over the final 4:15 of regulation with seven lead changes. Mariah Murdie put Omaha ahead 73-71 with three seconds to go in the fourth quarter that was quickly answered with a Nelson layup out of the timeout, sending the game to overtime at the buzzer.

After both teams went scoreless over the opening 1:19 of overtime, Meghan Boyd put Denver up 76-73 with a 3. There were two ties in a 1:04 span before DU went on to take an 82-79 lead with 45 seconds left in overtime after a Loven 3.

The Pioneers hit 4-of-4 free throws from the charity stripe in the final 28 seconds to secure the 86-80 victory.

UP NEXT
Denver returns home to host Oral Roberts in Hamilton Gymnasium on Feb. 23 at 1 pm (MT) for its Play4Kay Pink Game.

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2020 DENVER ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME RECEPTION: Denver announced its 2020 Athletic Hall of Fame class in January. The inductees will be honored on the DU campus May 16. For more information, registration for the reception and donation information, click here. 
 
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