OMAHA, Neb. – Friday night marked the opening of the Summit League slate for the Omaha women's basketball team, which fell 95-68 to Denver at Baxter Arena.

Leaders for Omaha
Sophomore Claire Killian scored a career-high 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting alongside five rebounds and three assists.  Freshman Elena Pilakouta joined her with 13 points and a team-best nine rebounds.  Senior Kalen Phillips added 10 points off the bench.

Freshman Mariah Murdie chipped in four points, six rebounds and two blocks, while freshman Sophie Johnston had nine points and three assists.

Leaders for Denver
Courtney Smith led five Pioneers in double figures.  Smith recorded a double-double, finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 7-of-13.  Claire Gritt scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including four 3-pointers.  Madison Nelson and Lauren Loven each scored 17 points.  Nelson added seven rebounds, three steals and two assists.  Samantha Romanowski missed a double-double, finishing with 16 points, nine assists, four rebounds and a steal.

Team Stats
Omaha converted 35.6 percent (21-of-59) of its shots from the field, including 50.0 percent (9-of-18) from long range.  UNO connected on 77.3 percent (17-of-22) of their free throws.  The Mavericks held a 21-11 advantage in bench points.

Denver shot 46.5 percent (33-of-71) from the floor, including a 43.8 percent (14-of-32) effort from deep.  The Pioneers sank 88.2 percent (15-of-17) of their free throws.  DU held a 422-35 edge in rebounding.

Inside the First Half
DU built a 12-4 advantage near the midway point of the first quarter before a 6-0 Omaha run pulled the Mavericks within four.  The Pioneers advantage then stretched to 21-10, but a three-point play by Pilakouta in the final minute of the period cut the Denver lead to 21-13 after the opening 10 minutes.

Omaha got within five points in the opening minute of the second quarter on a Killian trey.  Back-to-back 3-pointers by Gritt stretched the lead to 29-19.  The Mavericks outscored the Pioneers 9-6 over the next 3:47 to cut the lead to 35-28.  DU outscored Omaha 9-2 to close out the half, going up 44-30 at the break.

Inside the Second Half
Denver led by double digits the rest of the way, as Omaha never brought it under 16.  Killian scored 10 points in the second half, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists, while Johnston had nine points.

Omaha is now 5-8 (0-1 Summit League) on the season, while Denver improved to 8-5 (1-0).

Nightly Notes

• Killian's scoring effort was her first career 20-point performance.
• Omaha finished with a season-high nine 3-pointers as a team.
• Freshman Josie Filer grabbed her 100th rebound of the season tonight.

Up Next
Omaha continues its homestand with a Sunday afternoon matchup against Oral Roberts.  Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Baxter Arena.