FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Senior Madison Nelson led the University of Denver women's basketball team with a career-high 34 points as Denver earned an 85-67 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday night in the Gates Sports Center.

The win gives the Pioneers five straight victories as they improve to 14-14 on the season and 8-7 in league play.

Denver shot a season-high 51.6 percent from the field in the win.

Nelson recorded her third straight double-double and 18th of the season with a career-high 34 points and 10 rebounds. Her 34 points ties the program's Division I record for most points in a single-game.

The senior forward moved to fifth in program history with 831 career rebounds, while also jumping to ninth on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,352 career points.

Freshman Meghan Boyd notched her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Denver opened the game on an 8-2 run over the first 2:57 of play, but Purdue Fort Wayne answered with 9-2 run to take an 11-10 lead to the media timeout with 4:37 to play in the first quarter. Nelson scored the Pioneers' first 10 points of the game.

The DU defense held the Mastodons 1-of-7 from the field over the final 3:18 of the opening quarter to take a 17-13 lead to the second.

The Crimson and Gold shot 2-of-3 from the field to open the second quarter and take a 21-15 advantage. Purdue Fort Wayne followed with a 6-0 run of its own over a 1:41 span as the teams went to the media timeout knotted at 21-21.

Denver's defense held Purdue Fort Wayne without a field goal, 0-of-8, for the final 2:53 of the first half to go to halftime up 31-25.

The Pioneers came out of the break shooting 4-of-5 from the field over the second half's opening 2:50 to take a 40-29 lead and force a Mastodon timeout.

After taking a 56-42 lead to the final quarter, DU went on to outscore Purdue Fort Wayne 54-42 in the second half to secure the 85-67 victory.

UP NEXT
Denver caps off the regular season at 3 pm (MT) with Senior Night on Feb. 29 in Hamilton Gymnasium against Western Illinois.

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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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