OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha women's basketball team dropped an 85-74 decision to Denver on Thursday evening at Baxter Arena.

Leaders for Omaha
Five Mavericks scored in double figures, led by Kalen Phillips' 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting and a 4-of-4 effort at the line.  Phillips, in her first career start, added five rebounds and a steal.

Amber Vidal followed with 14 points and four assists off the bench.  Courtney Vaccher and Ellie Brecht each added 12 points and seven rebounds. Emily Dewey chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds.

Leaders for Denver
Madison Nelson's game-high 18 points, nine boards and two steals led the Pioneers.  Claire Gritt chipped 15 points with three-3 pointers.  Brianna Johnson and Abi Curtin added 14 and 12 points, respectively.  Jordyn Alt scored 10 points with nine boards, three assists and three blocked shots.

Team Stats
Omaha shot .446 (29-of-65) to Denver's .447 (34-of-76), but the Pioneers held the edge at the charity stripe, .706 (12-of-17) to .688 (11-of-16), and the advantage on the glass, 43-37.

Inside the First Half
Denver shot .526 (10-of-19) from the field in the first quarter, and limited Omaha to just .316 (6-of-19) from the field.  Dewey scored the first two buckets of the game as the Mavericks took a 4-0 lead in the opening minute.  The Pioneers responded with a 6-0 run capped off by Nelson's layup at the 7:06 mark.  After a Vidal bucket knotted the game at 9-9, DU went on a 10-2 run and took a 19-11 lead with 2:39 left in the opening period.  Four UNO free throws and a Brecht trifecta helped the Mavericks pull within three at the end of the opening 10 minutes, 21-18.

Omaha found its shooting touch in the second quarter, hitting on .600 (9-of-15) from the field while Denver shot .421 (8-of-19).  The Mavericks also held a 10-7 advantage on the glass.  DU went up 30-24 with 6:52 left in the half on a 3-pointer by Carie Weinman.  UNO cut the deficit to two on a pair of Phillips free throws and a bucket by Claire Killian.  Dewey tied things up at 34-34 with 1:06 left on the clock.  Vidal converted a layup with three seconds left on the clock to cut the Pioneers' lead to one at the intermission, 39-38.

Inside the Second Half
The Mavericks shot .500 (9-of-18) from the floor in the third quarter while the Pioneers connected on .421 (8-of-19).  Denver kept Omaha at bay until a Brecht 3-pointer and two buckets by Phillips put the Mavericks out front 47-45 with 5:40 left in the period.  Back-to-back trey's by Brecht and Emily Petersen gave UNO a 59-54 lead with 2:41 remaining. DU ended the quarter with a 5-0 to tie things up 59-59 at the end of the third quarter.

Denver shot .421 (8-of-19) from the floor and .833 (10-of-12) from the line in the final quarter while Omaha shot .385 (5-of-13) from the field and .500 (5-of-10) from the charity stripe.  A pair of Johnson buckets bookended a Pioneer 8-3 run to open the period.  The Mavericks responded with a 6-0 run capped by a Vaccher basket to take a 68-67 lead midway through the quarter.  Denver ended the game on a 17-6 run to take the win.

With the loss, Omaha is now 8-9 (0-5 Summit League), while Denver improved to 12-8 (3-2).

Inside Tonight's Game
-    Omaha had five players score in double-figures for the first time this season.
-    Emily Dewey and Kalen Phillips each made their first career start.
-    Kalen Phillips scored a career-high 14 points.
-    Emily Dewey grabbed a career-best eight rebounds.

Up Next
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 20, visiting South Dakota.  Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D., and Donny Baarns will have the radio broadcast on 1180 Zone 2.  Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.