DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team's overtime run of form ran out on Thursday night in a 73-64 loss to North Dakota inside Hamilton Gymnasium.
Inside the Box Score:
Uju Ezeudu led the Pioneers with 23 points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal.
Cheyenne Forney finished in double figures as well with 10 points and five rebounds.
First Quarter:
Ezeudu buried her first two shots of the night, including one from beyond the arc to give the Pioneers an early 5-2 lead.
The Denver junior, who was honored before the game for joining the 1,000 point club last week at Kansas City, scored Denver's first seven to give the Pioneers a 7-6 advantage right out of the media timeout.
North Dakota took a 12-11 lead after the opening 10 minutes as both teams struggled to find the bottom of the cup in the second half of the quarter.
Second Quarter:
The pace picked up in the second quarter, and Denver retook the lead at 18-14 at the midway point in the second.
Anna Jackson hit Denver's second triple of the night to ignite the Hamilton Gymnasium crowd.
North Dakota evened up the score at 18-18 with 4:02 to go before a quick 5-0 run that included Ezeudu's second three of the night put Denver back up 23-18 in the final two minutes of the quarter.
The Pioneers took a 28-24 lead into the locker room. Ezeudu had six in the quarter to end up with 13 in the first half to go with three rebounds, two assists and three blocks.
Indeya Sanders had four more for Denver and
Makayla Minett had three of her eight first-half rebounds in the stanza.
Third Quarter:
Boyd hit two triples in the opening five minutes of the third quarter to pad the Denver lead to as many as eight with 6:29 to go in the frame.
North Dakota ended the quarter on a 10-4 run to tie things up at 40 heading into the fourth. Forney had Denver's four points during the Fighting Hawks run, two off an offensive rebound after setting a screen at the top of the arc, and two more in transition, running the floor after a defensive post stop.
Fourth Quarter:
A 5-0 run to answer an Ezuedu lay-in gave the Fighting Hawks a three-point lead early in the quarter.
Tess Santos trimmed that back down to one before head coach
Doshia Woods used her first timeout of the night to setup Denver's full-court press. Denver forced a turnover on the press and Ezeudu cashed in on a corner jumper to put the Pios back in-front. Minett ran it to a 6-0 Denver run with a layup to put Denver up three with 6:05 to play.
North Dakota hit a triple to tie things back up at 50-50 with 4:53 to go. A 5-0 run capped by Santos three-point play got Denver in-front, but a 7-2 North Dakota run closed the gap back to even, tying the game at 57-57.
With 36 seconds to go, Forney hit a pair from the line to push Denver's lead to three, but a Maggie Manson triple leveled the score at 61-61.
Denver's buzzer-beating specialist Sanders had her floater rim out to send the game to overtime, the Pioneers second-straight game to go to an extra session.
Overtime:
North Dakota got the first eight points in the extra session to race out to a 69-61 advantage. Forney hit two more from the stripe to put an end to the run, pushing her point total to nine.
Denver was unable to find a bucket to close in on the margin and North Dakota took the nine-point win.
Notes:
- Uju Ezeudu finished in double figures for the seventh-straight game, for the 21st time this season and for the 55th time in her career.
- Cheyenne Forney finished in double figures for the second time this season and in her career.
- Makayla Minett finished in double figures in rebounds for the fourth time this season and the fifth time in her career .
What's Next:
Denver stays home to take on North Dakota State on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT inside Hamilton Gymnasium. The game will serve as the program's first ever Pride Game.
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