DU women’s basketball finished their home stretch this weekend with back-to-back wins in Hamilton Gymnasium. On Thursday, the Crimson and Gold welcomed Kansas City, winning swiftly 65-50. On Saturday, Oral Roberts couldn’t match DU’s three-point barrage, and Denver won 102-92.
Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Roo’s started hot, with DU jumping to an 8-0 lead at the start of the first quarter. DU maintained their lead to finish the first quarter with a 19-14 advantage.
At the 4:00 minute mark of the second quarter, UMKC hit a jumper to tie the game 24-24. After going back and forth to the end of the quarter, UMKC pulled away with a 30-28 lead going into halftime.
Second-half scoring started with two free throws from senior center Makayla Minett, bringing the score to 30-30. Denver never gave up the lead for the rest of the game, winning 65-50.
50 of their 65 points came from the efficient scoring trio of Jordan Jones, Angelina Robles, and Minett. Jones finished the game with 20 points on 7-14 shooting from the field. Robles finished with 12 points and 4 steals. Minett notched her second double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Robles spoke on the much-meeded win to break their eight game losing streak post-game.
“[It] definitely feels great, good motivation for our next game and for the rest of the season. We definitely needed the morale boost. Much needed team win,” Robles said.
Head Coach Doshia Woods has been proud of the progress the team has made in the last few weeks.
“We’ve remained positive and motivated throughout this streak. If you look at a lot of the scores in these games we’re right there,” Woods said. “In our game against Omaha, we were in it until about the last eight seconds. We just wanted to put together a complete game and eliminate some of those mistakes we were making, and we did that tonight.”
Saturday’s game against Oral Roberts presented a challenge; DU’s eight-game losing streak started with a 64-95 loss at Oral Roberts. ORU opened the first quarter quickly, jumping to an 8-0 lead at the 7:53 mark of the period. Senior guard Emily Counsel stopped the run with a three to start Denver’s scoring.
At the 2:53 mark of the first ORU stretched their lead back to eight after two free throws, making it 21-13. Denver stayed focused, bringing the score to a tie 25-25 with 12 seconds left, ORU hitting a jumper at the last second to go into the second quarter up 27-25.
The second quarter was back and forth until the 4:30 minute mark, when DU pulled away with an eight-point lead thanks to a three from senior forward Lauren With, making it 47-39. Denver stayed ahead, going into the half with a 52-46 lead.
The second half was all DU, starting hot, never giving ORU a lead, as the score swelled to 79-64 by the end of the third quarter. DU dominated the entire fourth quarter, never allowing ORU to come within 10 points of their lead, winning the game 102-92.
Again led by Jones (24 points), Robles (22 points), and Minett (9 points, 16 rebounds), sophomore guard Emma Smith and junior guard Mary Wilson also turned in stellar performances. Smith led the team in minutes played, charting 16 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds. She shot 4-6 from three-point land. Wilson finished with 18 points, a season-high, going 6-11 from three.
102 points is the highest point total this season for DU.
Denver counted on the three for most of their points, but the connection between Robles and Minett in the paint provided easy offense throughout the game.
“Kay is my dog,” said Robles. “I think she brings a lot of good energy to the team, especially when she’s on fire and having a good game. She keeps us focused, keeps the energy up. She does a great job for us down low.”
Coach Woods was also pleased to see results, which the team had been expecting.
“It’s nice for us to put a game like this together because, regardless of what our record says, our players have really been making a lot of progress, so I’m happy for them that they can see the reward for that with a game like this,” she said.
DU currently stands at 7th in the Summit League, with a 6-16 record, but the team recognizes that it will take persistence to climb the ladder, rung by rung.
“Our only goal is to go 1-0 every time we step on the court. All we can do is rely on each other and ourselves, focus on the next game, keep pushing, stay together, and play as hard as we can every game,” she said.
Denver’s next game will be at home in Hamilton Gymnasium hosting SDU for a 6 p.m. tip-off. After that, they hit the road to play St. Thomas the following Saturday for an 11 a.m. tip-off.
