DENVER – Seniors Madison Nelson and Lauren Loven powered the University of Denver women's basketball team to an 84-78 Senior Day win over Western Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Hamilton Gymnasium.

With the win, the Pioneers secured the three seed in the Summit League Tournament after finishing the regular season 15-14 and 9-7 in league play. Du extended its win streak to six games.

"I didn't think this team was going to lose today," said associate head coach Kayla Ard. "It was Senior Day today and there was no way they weren't going to win this game for the seniors. I love our seniors and so does the team."

Nelson notched her fourth straight double-double and 19th of the season with 23 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, her fourth 15-15 game this year. The senior recorded four first quarter blocks to finish with five in the game and move to sixth in program history with 117 career blocks.

Nelson set a new program record with 559 points in a single season. She also set the program's single-season record with 333 rebounds.

Loven hit five 3s for her seventh game with five-plus 3s this year, finishing with a game-high 25 points. This was her eighth game this season of 20-plus points.

Denver opened the game 3-of-3 from the field to take an 8-3 lead before taking a 14-10 lead to the media timeout. The Pioneer defense held Western Illinois just 1-of-8 from the field over the final 5:41 of the opening quarter, taking an 18-16 advantage to the second.

Western Illinois took its first lead of the game, 21-20, 44 seconds into the second quarter off a 3 from Danni Nichols. The two teams saw three lead changes in the first 3:31 of the second quarter as the Leathernecks went to the media timeout up 28-25.

Once again the Denver defense closed the quarter strong, holding Western Illinois without a field goal for the final 4:32 of the first half as the teams went to the break knotted at 36-36.

The Leathernecks regained the lead 23 seconds into the quarter off an Olivia Kaufmann layup, but DU answered by going on a 6-0 run over a 1:17 span to take a 42-38 lead and force a Leatherneck timeout just 2:07 into the second half.

The Pioneers held Western Illinois without a field goal for the final 2 minutes of the third quarter, going to the fourth up 59-52.

After the Crimson and Gold held the lead for the opening 6:17 of the fourth quarter, Grace Gilmore tied the game for the Leathernecks at 68-68. Nelson put Denver back up by two with 3:29 to play, while Kaufmann went 2-of-2 at the free throw line and tie the game at 73-73 with 2:17 remaining.

Kaufmann gave Western Illinois the 77-76 lead with 27 seconds to go in the game after hitting both free throws. Denver called a timeout that was followed up with a Nelson layup, putting Denver back on top 78-77.

Briana Johnson secured the game for the Pioneers with a steal as eight seconds remained in the contest. The Crimson and Gold hit 4-of-4 free throws over the final five seconds to secure the 84-78 victory.

UP NEXT
Denver will travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Summit League Tournament March 7-10 in the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

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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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