OMAHA – Junior
Uju Ezeudu turned in a super-sized double-double, her sixth of the season, going for 28 points and 17 rebounds to lead the University of Denver women's basketball team past Omaha 71-62 on Thursday night in Baxter Arena.
Inside the Box Score:
Ezeudu finished with 28 and 17 on 10-of-16 shooting to go with three steals, three assists, one block and 14 fouls drawn on the evening. Following Thursday night's win, Ezeudu has 987 career points, 13 away from becoming the 28
th student-athlete in program history, including the 15
th at the Division I level, to reach 1,000 career points.
Anna Jackson had 15 points, converting five three-point field goals to go with two rebounds and a pair of steals.
Indeya Sanders led Denver on a 15-of-19 shooting night from the free-throw line, going 8-for-8, including 6-for-6 in the final 41 seconds to fend off a late attempt at an Omaha comeback. Sanders finished with 13 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
First Quarter:
Denver got off to a 5-for-9 start from the field, including a three-point play from Ezeudu and triples from
Tess Santos and Sanders, which gave Denver a 13-12 lead at the under-5 media timeout.
Omaha responded with a 5-0 run, but a Jackson triple put a halt to the run to cut the lead to two.
Emily Counsel would also hit a three in the quarter, giving the Pioneers four different three-point scorers in the opening frame. Ezeudu had five points and three assists to lead the Pioneers, but despite a 50-percent performance from the field in the first 10 minutes, the Pioneers trailed 23-19.
Second Quarter:
Ezeudu used a 7-0 run all by herself that was kickstarted by her becoming the fifth Pioneer to net a shot from behind on the arc on the evening to bring the Pioneers from six points down to a point ahead with 6:45 to play in the first half.
The junior's 7-0 run was part of a 20-4 run for the Pioneers over a 6:48 stretch in the second quarter. The Pioneers shot 7-for-10 from the field on one end and had four steals as part of six Omaha turnovers on the defensive end to put the Pioneers up by 10 with 2:08 to go in the half.
Denver carried a five-point lead into the intermission. Ezuedu led all scorers with 16 on 6-of-9 shooting to go with seven rebounds, three assists and a steal in 18 minutes. Sanders had seven points on a perfect 2-for-2 shooting. Jackson added six on a pair of triples in the first half. The Pioneers turned eight Omaha turnovers into 11 first half points to give DU its second lead at halftime in Summit League play this season.
Third Quarter:
Jackson hit a triple for her ninth point of the day to put Denver back up by nine in the early going of the quarter. After Santos hit another triple with 8:16 to go in the third, Omaha went on a 7-0 run to trim the Pioneers lead to two at 45-43 at the under-five media timeout.
Omaha got back even at 47-47, but the Pioneers responded with a 6-0 spurt, a long-distance triple from Jackson and a three-point play from Ezeudu made it 53-47 with 2:13 to go in the frame.
The margin at the end of three matched the margin at halftime, and the Pioneers took a 56-51 lead into the final 10 minutes in Baxter Arena.
Fourth Quarter:
Both teams struggled to take care of the basketball in the opening two minutes of the final quarter, but a pair of Ezeudu free-throws and a Santos lay-in made it 60-51 Denver with 7:26 to play in regulation. Back-to-back buckets from the Mavericks cut the lead to five before a trademarked deep Jackson triple pushed the Denver lead back to eight with five minutes to play.
After Omaha hit a three to trim the Denver lead to three with 52 seconds to play, Sanders stepped up to the line and knocked down a pair of free-throws to push Denver's lead back to five with 41 tics on the clock. Sanders got a steal on the ensuing in-bounds pass and hit four more free-throws in the final 39 seconds to seal the victory.
Denver's win is its first in conference play this season and snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Pioneers.
Notes:
- Uju Ezeudu finished with her sixth double-double of the season and the 13th of her career.
- Ezeudu finished in double figures in points for the fourth-straight game, the 18th time this season and the 52nd time in her career.
- Ezeudu finished in double figures in rebounds for the eighth time this season and the 17th time in her career.
- Anna Jackson finished in double figures for the 10th time this season and the 21st time in her career.
- Indeya Sanders finished in double figures for the fifth time this season and the 25th time in her career.
- Sanders finished with 5+ assists for the seventh time this season and the 29th time in her career.
What's Next:
Denver will play the middle game of its three-game road swing when the Pioneers head to Kansas City on Thursday for a 5 p.m. MT tipoff. The match-up will be the Pioneers second against the Roos in three games.
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