GRAND FORKS, N.D.  – The University of Denver women's basketball team fell to North Dakota 80-75 on Saturday afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
Inside The Box Score:
Uju Ezeudu finished with her fifth double-double of the season and the 12^th of her career, eclipsing 900 points in her three years as a Pio with 28 to go with 11 rebounds.
 
Denver got Anna Jackson back in the lineup on Saturday afternoon after she missed her first game of the year on Thursday. Jackson finished with 12 points, her sixth-straight appearance in double figures.
 
Makayla Minett finished in double figures for the first time in conference play, putting up 11 to go with five rebounds. Tess Santos rounded out Denver's double figure scorers with 11 points and four rebounds, while Meghan Boyd chipped in nine.
 
First Quarter:
Following her 31-point contest on Thursday in Fargo, Ezeudu got her scoring started from beyond the arc on Saturday with a left corner triple. Santos had five of Denver's first 10 in the contest, but the Pioneers trailed the Fighting Hawks 12-10 at the first quarter media timeout.
 
Ezeudu finished with eight points in the first quarter and then found Emily Counsel open in the corner, who buried a triple at the buzzer to pull Denver to within one at the first quarter break.
 
Second Quarter:
Counsel started the quarter with a confident drive to the basket to put Denver in-front before the teams exchanged the lead back and forth the rest of the quarter. A pair of old fashioned three-point plays from Ezeudu and then Minett made it 25-25 with seven minutes to go in the half.
 
A pair of triples from Jackson and Santos in the middle of the quarter stretched Denver's lead out to its biggest of the afternoon at 31-27, with 5:45 to play. North Dakota fought right back though, getting five quick points back to retake the lead with 4:02 to go.
 
Boyd hit Denver's second buzzer-beating shot of the afternoon to end the half with Denver a point behind.
 
Third Quarter:
North Dakota opened the second half on an 14-2 run to push its lead to 13 in the first four minutes of the stanza. Back to back baskets from Makayla Minett got Denver going in the third, starting a 9-0 run for the Pioneers to quickly cut the North Dakota lead back down to four with 3:53 to play in the third.
 
The Fighting Hawks went on a run on the other side of their timeout, outscoring the Pioneers in the final four minutes to take a nine-point lead into the final 10 minutes in Grand Forks.
 
Fourth Quarter:
Back-to-back triples from Jackson and Santos pulled Denver back to within three less than a minute into the quarter, but a 5-0 response in the next minutes got the home team back up by eight at 63-55. Boyd hit a floater in the paint and a triple around a pair of North Dakota baskets and the Fighting Hawks maintained a seven-point advantage at the final media timeout of the afternoon.
 
Denver got the North Dakota lead down to as little as three in the final 10 seconds, but a pair of Lane free-throws wrapped up back-to-back wins for the Fighting Hawks.
 
Notes:

• Uju Ezeudu finished in double figures for the 10^th-straight game, the 14^th time this season and the 48^th time in her career.
  • Ezeudu finished with double digit rebounds for the sixth time this season and the 15^th time in her career.
• Anna Jackson finished in double figures for her sixth-straight game, the ninth time this season and the 20^th time in her career.
• Makayla Minett finished in double figures for the third time this season and the fourth time in her career.
• Tess Santos finished in double figures for the seventh time this season and the 22^nd time in her career.
• Denver was without starting point guard Indeya Sanders for the second-straight game.

 
What's Next:
The Pioneers will return home to battle Oral Roberts on Monday at 4 p.m. MT as part of a double header with the men's program (7 p.m.). One ticket will be good for admission to both contests.  
 
DENVER TICKET OFFICE:
For women's basketball ticket information, click here
 
CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION:
For the latest University of Denver updates on the coronavirus, click here.
 
DONATE:
Fans interested in making a donation to the Pioneers Athletic Fund can do so by clicking here. Your gift will transform the lives of our student-athletes by giving them the first-class resources needed to excel in the classroom, in the classroom and beyond. Thank you for Building Pioneers for Life!
 
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of Denver's NCAA Division I sports.-
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Women's Basketball on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_Whoops on Twitter
Follow @denverpioneers and @du_whoops on Instagram