DENVER - In a battle for second place in the Sun Belt's West Division, Denver went on a 10-2 run to start the second half, providing enough cushion to defeat the University of New Orleans 60-52 on Saturday afternoon at Magness Arena.
DU (13-12, 8-6 SBC) had four scorers in double-figures led by the tandem of Andie Mason and Kaetyln Murdoch with 14 points. Mason's efforts included a 4 of 9 performance from beyond the arc. Other double-figure scorers included Britteni Rice and Ashly Robinson with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Jada Frazier, bounced back from her two-point outing against North Texas, to score 21 points for UNO (12-14, 7-8 SBC). Joining Frazier in double-figures was
Candice McGee, who had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Ty Felder also had eight rebounds.
DU took control of the game during the first few minutes of the second half, scoring the first five points and 10 of 12 to take an eight-point lead at 36-28.
The Lady Privateers, who had never trailed by more than two points in the first half were forced to claw their way back into the contest. Consecutive lay-ups by Felder and Frazier brought the Pioneer advantage to four before DU reeled off seven straight points capped by a Rice three-pointer.
UNO would commence a rally once more, responding with a 7-0 run of their own to get back within four points, 51-47. Four points served as the threshold the Lady Privateers could not break through with a Celena Otero three-pointer with 1:34 sealing the victory for the home squad.
The two teams went into the break tied at 26 apiece after a half that saw seven lead changes and six ties, with neither team gaining more than a four-point advantage during the game's opening 20 minutes.
Sluggish to start their last contest, the Lady Privateers reversed the trend by shooting 5 of 8 from the field including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc to open the contest. Frazier, held to just two points on Wednesday, scored 8 of the team's first 10 points and finished the opening half with 10 points.
After the opening push, UNO was held to 1 of 7 shooting during a stretch that saw the team not make a field goal for nearly four minutes before a
Cookie Johnson basket tied the score at 18.
The Lady Privateers shot 4 of 8 from the field to close the half, but it DU that closed the half on a strong note, breaking a near five-minute drought from the field with two baskets in the final 44 seconds, the final buckets of the half to tie the contest.
Tylah Black played a major role during the Pioneer struggles, blocking three DU shots during her four first half minutes of play.
UNO will play their final regular-season home game on Wednesday night when Arkansas State comes to the Lakefront for a 7 p.m. contest.
