DENVER - Graduate Point guard
Sarai Estupiñan (Cedar Park, Texas) scored 15 of her team-high 24 points in the final five minutes in leading the Omaha Women's Basketball team to a 65-58 win over Denver on Wednesday night.
Omaha (4-23, 2-10 Summit League) led by 20 points in the third quarter before Denver (9-16, 3-9) cut the lead to one midway through the fourth quarter. But Omaha never lost the lead as Estupiñan scored 15 of Omaha's final 16 points.
Freshman
Regan Juenemann (Crosby, Minn.) added 16 points, three rebounds and two steals off the bench, while junior
Ali Stephens (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had her second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
It is the first road win of the season for Omaha, which improves to 4-23 and 2-10 in the Summit League.
"That was a fun one. I'm really, really happy for our kids," head coach
Jamie Carey said. "They just keep coming to work."
Omaha led most of the night as it put together one of its best halves of the season as it dominated Denver in the first 20 minutes.
Omaha took the lead at 9-8 on a Juenemann layup with 1:25 left in the first quarter. That triggered a 14-1 run as Omaha never trailed again.
A 3-pointer by Stephens extended the lead to 19-9 with 8:20 left in the half. At that point, Omaha was winning the rebounding battle 15-7 and the Maverick man-to-man defense was holding the Pioneers to 4-of-18 shooting from the field.
Omaha continued to tack on to the lead as it went into the break with a 33-16 advantage after freshman
Elsa Vedral (Omaha, Neb.) hit Omaha's sixth three of the half.
A Juenemann 3-pointer gave Omaha a 42-25 lead with 6:05 left in the third quarter, but the Mavericks went scoreless the rest of the quarter as Denver scored 14 straight.
Stephens ended that drought by hitting a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. Denver pulled within 49-48 with five minutes left when Estupiñan took over offensively for the Mavericks.
Estupiñan first made two threes and a layup to give Omaha a 57-50 lead with 2:05 left, then she hit 7 of 10 free throws after that.
Omaha finished with a 35-32 rebounding edge as freshman
Avril Smith (Omaha, Neb.) finished with 14 rebounds. Smith, who is among the national leaders in rebounds and blocked shots, also had three blocks. It was the 16th game this season Smith has finished with double-digit rebounds. Tonight's game brought Smith's season total to 308 rebounds.
Omaha stays on the road as it will play at St. Thomas at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.
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