DENVER, Colo. – The Omaha women's basketball team fell at Denver, 60-53, on Thursday evening at the Magness Arena. The Mavericks dropped to 5-10 overall and 0-3 in the Summit League. Denver improved to 5-12 and 2-1 in the league.
Brianna Bogard had a team high 19 points and three rebounds for the Mavs. Mikaela Shaw added 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and a steal.
Taijhe Kelly just missed a double-double. Kelly scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. She also had two blocked shots, a steal, and an assist.
Denver had three players in double-digit points. Paige Bradley had 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor, including three 3-pointers. Bradley also grabbed seven rebounds. Morgan Van Riper-Rose and Jacqlyn Poss each added 14 points.
UNO trailed 17-12 with 11:15 to play in the first half, but Bogard hit a 3-pointer and sank two free throws to tie the game with 10:21left.
Kelly gave the Mavs a 19-17 lead at the 9:05 mark in the first half, but the Pioneers responded with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to five points with 6:59 remaining in the half.
Omaha rallied again to even the score (26-26) at the 3:26 mark on a 3-pointer by Remy Davenport. The two teams exchanged buckets before heading into the locker room tied, 31-31.
Denver opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 39-31 lead with 16:58 left in the game. The Pioneers extended the lead to 10 points (43-33) after a Poss layup with 14:48 remaining.
Omaha cut the lead to five points (43-38) with 12:41 left in the game following a bucket and a free throw from Kelly. Denver quickly extended the lead back to 11 points with 10:06 remaining on a jumper by Jordan Johnston.
UNO made one last push to even things up in the final five minutes of the game. Bogard drained a 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining to cut the Denver lead to four, 53-49. The Pioneers would make 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to keep the lead. Shaw finished the game with a layup to make the final score 60-53.
Omaha finished the game shooting 34.4 percent from the floor (21-of-61) and 28 percent from the 3-point arc (7-of-25). Denver shot 34.5 percent from the floor (20-of-58) and 33.3 percent from long range (7-of-21).
The Mavericks held a 45-35 advantage on the boards and held a 15-9 advantage on the offensive glass. Omaha committed 16 turnovers compared to only seven by Denver. UNO outscored the Pioneers 22-12 in the paint and held a 17-8 advantage in second chance points.
Omaha finishes a three-game conference road trip on Thursday, Jan. 15 against South Dakota State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Brookings, South Dakota.
