DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team used a second-half comeback to take down St. Thomas 66-63 on Thursday night inside Hamilton Gymnasium.
Inside the Box Score:
Denver had four players finish in double figures Thursday night.
Indeya Sanders led the way with 14, to go with four rebounds and four assists.
Tess Santos had 11 points,
Meghan Boyd had 11, five rebounds and three assists and
Uju Ezeudu had all 10 of her points in the third quarter to kick-start the comeback in the win.
Denver shot 47.9% from the field on 23-of-48 shooting, its best shooting performance since January 6 at North Dakota State.
First Quarter:
St. Thomas opened the game on a 7-0 run, shooting 3-for-4 in the first three minutes of the contest. Santos put an end to the run with a running banked shot to get Denver on the board. The Tommies ran the opening run to 12-2 forcing a Denver timeout with 6:03 to play.
The Tommies held a 21-12 lead through the opening 10 minutes in Hamilton. St. Thomas shot 9-for-18 in the opening 10 minutes, and 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. Santos had seven of Denver's 12 points in the first, and Boyd added a triple.
Second Quarter:
Denver cut the St. Thomas advantage to seven by the media timeout.
Anna Jackson hit a deep triple to highlight the first half of a Pioneers quarter that saw five different players put together Denver's first 10 points of the quarter.
Sanders hit a triple out of the media timeout to cut the lead to four, but St. Thomas responded with back-to-back threes of their own to push the lead back to 10.
Another Sanders three allowed Denver to draw within nine at the intermission. All eight of Sanders first-half points came in the second quarter.
Denver shot 5-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.
Third Quarter:
After St. Thomas split a pair from the line, Ezeudu went on her own 6-0 run, her first six points of the game to cut the Tommies lead to five.
Following a couple empty possessions on both sides, Ezeudu made it eight points in a row to trim the margin to three with 5:51 and force a Tommies' timeout.
Ezeudu continued to initiate the office with three assists and 10 points in the first 6:12 of the quarter, giving the Pioneers their first lead of the night at 43-41 with 3:48 to play.
St. Thomas re-took the lead by the end of the quarter, taking a 49-47 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Fourth Quarter:
The Tommies opened the quarter on a 7-2 run to push their lead to seven in the first two minutes of the final quarter. Denver got to within one on four-straight points from Boyd sandwiched around hounding defense from Santos that forced a Tommies' shot clock violation.
St. Thomas got a bucket back to push its lead to three at the final media timeout of the evening.
Out of the media, Boyd and Santos connected on four-straight free-throws to give Denver the lead back. Jackson pushed the Pioneers lead to its biggest at four with a three on the next possession with 2:47 to go.
Denver shot 10-of-13 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to close out the game to protect their home floor with a three-point victory.
Notes:
- Denver had four players finish in double figures for the third time this season, and the first time since January 8 against North Dakota.
- Indeya Sanders finished in double figures for the eighth time this season and the 28th time in her career.
- Uju Ezeudu finished in double figures for the 12th-straight game, the 26th time this season and the 60th time in her career.
- Ezeudu passed Samantha Romanowski (2015-19) to move into 11th in Denver's Division I history in career points.
- Meghan Boyd finished in double figures for the 15th time this season and the 42nd time in her career.
- Tess Santos finished in double figures for the 10th time this season and the 25th time in her career.
- Denver shot 47.9 percent, its first game over 40% from the field since defeating Omaha 71-62 on January 20, 2022.
- The Pioneers came from behind at halftime to win for just the second time this season.
What's Next:
Denver will close out the regular season on Saturday when the Pioneers welcome Western Illinois to Hamilton Gymnasium. Opening tip is set for 2 p.m. MT.
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