On Jan. 29, the University of Denver women’s basketball team pulled out an exciting road win against Oral Roberts University. Led by junior Meghan Boyd (Eagle, Idaho), who scored 27 points, the team fought to a 69-64 overtime victory.
Denver’s defense dominated the first quarter, forcing seven turnovers and only allowing six points. Oral Roberts was 15% from the field, while DU finished the quarter with 14 on the board. Junior Uju Ezeudu (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) led the Denver team with six of DU’s 14 points, and graduate student Indeya Sanders (Reston, Va.) finished out the quarter with five including a last-second buzzer-beater.
Oral Roberts kicked off the second quarter with a 12-3 run to take the lead. With 3:55 remaining, the score rested at 18-17, but sophomore Emily Counsel (Perth, Australia) hit a three to stop the Golden Eagles’ streak and kick off a Denver run. The rest of the second half was a back and forth battle but Denver fought hard to go into the locker room with a 26-22 lead.
Boyd opened the third quarter with multiple triples allowing DU to take the lead. However, Oral Roberts responded with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 34-34. After both teams went scoreless for the next three minutes, Boyd hit another three to pull DU ahead. Thanks to one more Boyd triple, Denver finished the third quarter with a four-point lead and a score of 40-36.
In the final quarter, DU made it a seven-point game with less than eight minutes to go. However, Oral Roberts responded with an 8-1 run to take the lead at 56-54 with only 36 seconds left in the game. But, Sanders stepped up in the final seconds to make two free throws and tie the score. Neither team was able to make a game-winning basket in the final seconds, leading both into overtime.
The first segment of overtime was a constant battle, with Boyd putting up the first points of the period and the Golden Eagles responding immediately with a pair of free throws to tie it up. However, Boyd once again led the game with her three-point shooting and sank her seventh triple of the day with only 68 seconds to go. As the final seconds counted down, Ezeudu, Boyd and Sanders worked together to go 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Denver then eked out the overtime victory with a 69-64 victory.
Boyd was the star of Saturday’s game with over 20 points for the third time this season. Going 7-for-12 from behind the three-point line, she ended in double figures for the second straight game. Ezeudu and Sanders also led the boards with 15 and nine points, respectively. The team had an exciting game overall, shooting 17-for-19 from the free-throw line and making 10 three-pointers in a single game.
Denver continues their season with a home game on Thursday, Feb. 3 against North Dakota. Tip-off begins at 7 p.m. MDT.
