Pioneers Dominate In Exhibition

DENVER – The University of Denver women's basketball team used a well-rounded performance to down Taylor University 106-66 on Saturday night at Hamilton Gymnasium. Nine of the 10 Pioneer's to see action in the game recorded at least one basket with four players reaching double figures.

DU used a dominant second-half effort to put this one away, outscoring the Trojans 57-31 in the final 20 minutes.

The Crimson and Gold were led by Lauren Loven with a game-high 23 points, 15 via the long-ball. Loven also grabbed five rebounds while dishing out two assists.

Junior Madison Nelson got the start at forward and produced a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Sophomore Claire Gritt stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, five boards, two assists and one steal in the victory.

Briana Johnson started at point guard and finished the contest with 16 points on 6-10 shooting while adding four rebounds and four assists.

The Pioneers opened the game shooting 87.5 (6-7) percent from the floor to get out to an early 13-6 lead thanks to six points from Gritt.

Denver threatened to pull away after a jumper from Loven, which made it 19-8 with 3:31 to play. Taylor's Kendall Bradbury kept the Trojans alive, knocking down 3-of-8 shots that included two from downtown.

Bradbury added four free throws in the final minutes of the first quarter to keep Taylor within eight at 25-17.

Freshman Sydney Mech opened the second quarter with a jumper to extend the Pioneer lead to 10 but the pesky Bradbury responded with another three-ball.

A Denver turnover then led to a Taylor layup to cut the lead to five with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Crimson and Gold kicked things into gear, ripping off an 11-2 run and increasing the lead back to double digits with 5:14 to play.

A pair of free throws from the sophomore Gritt put DU up 40-26, the Pioneers' largest lead of the first half. The teams traded buckets over the final four minutes of the half, leading to a score of 49-35 at the break. Gritt paced the Crimson and Gold with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting while going 3-of-3 from the charity stripe.

Denver's defensive intensity picked up in the third quarter as Taylor went scoreless over the first four minutes, extending the lead to 19 after a three-ball from Samantha Romanowski.

The defense continued to be the collective star of the second half as Denver outscored the Trojans 31-8 to put the game out of reach. The Pioneers held Taylor to 2-of-15 shooting from the floor while shooting 9-of-17 to dominate the third quarter.

Despite being outscored by 23 in the third quarter, Taylor refused to quit. The Trojans opened the final period of play on a 12-5 run to cut Denver's lead to 33 at the seven-minute mark.

The teams traded baskets over the final minutes of play as Denver eclipsed the century mark with just over one minute to play in the game.

Grace White (Red Lake Nation) scored 9 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Pioneers last night in their 106-66 exhibition win. She also added 3 assists in 24 minutes of play.

UP NEXT: The Pioneers open the 2018-19 regular season on Friday, November 9 at 7 p.m. when the University of Missouri Kansas City comes to Denver.