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The University of Montana women’s basketball team came back from a 13-point second-half deficit to win its fifth straight game, 68-63 at Denver University Wednesday afternoon at DU’s Hamilton Gymnasium in Denver, Colo. The Lady Griz trailed 53-40 with just over 12 minutes remaining but out-scored the Pioneers 28-10 the rest of the way.

Montana, which hosts Gonzaga (9-3) Friday at 4 p.m., improved to 8-2.

Denver dropped back to .500 at 5-5.

After DU’s Sara Bents hit a jumper at the 12:36 mark that put the Pioneers up 53-40, senior Britney Lohman connected on a pair of free throws that started a 15-2 Lady Griz run over a stretch of 5:40.

Junior Lauren Beck evened the score at 55-55 with a jumper with 6:32 remaining.

Senior Sonya Rogers scored seven of Montana’s 15 points during the run.

The game was tied 60-60 with under a minute remaining.

Beck missed a jumper, but sophomore Sarah Ena grabbed the offensive rebound, scored and was fouled on the put-back with 44 seconds to play. She hit the free throw to make it 63-60.

Denver’s Kaetlyn Murdoch misfired on a jumper with 30 seconds remaining, and Ena was there for the defensive rebound.

Montana hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 20 seconds to hold on for the victory.

“I’m really proud because we hung in there,” Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig said after the game on KENR 107.5 FM. “We got down 13 and there wasn’t much good going on out there for us. We were really struggling. And if we didn’t have good, competitive players on this team, we would have got beat by 20 and went home.

“The major difference was we started playing better defense in the second half. The first half was embarrassing. We weren’t talking, we didn’t have good energy, we just seemed to be ankle-deep in the floor. In the second half we started talking and playing with some enthusiasm.”

Montana allowed Denver to score 38 first-half points, the most points an opponent has scored in a half this season against UM.

The Pioneers shot under 40 percent (39.4) in the opening 20 minutes but got 24 of their 38 points from the bench and turned the ball over just twice.

“We were down eight (38-30) at the half because Denver was doing the little things early on,” Selvig said. “They were aggressive, they got after us, they got to the loose balls and they got the second-chance rebounds. They played really well.”

Montana scored eight of the opening 10 points of the second half to pull within two, 40-38, on a Rogers shot in the lane at the 16:54 mark, but Denver answered with its own 13-2 run to go up 53-40.

After the Lady Griz rallied back to tie the game, Denver still had a two-point lead, 60-58, and possession with under two minutes to play.

DU’s Britteni Rice took the ball to the basket and scored underneath with 1:47 to go, but sophomore Jessa Loman Linford was there to take the charge, nullifying the basket and keeping it a single-possession game.

“There were a lot of key moments down the stretch,” Selvig said, “but we don’t win without that play.”

Beck missed a jumper on Montana’s next possession but got her own rebound and was fouled. Her two free throws tied it at 60-60 with 1:33 to play.

The Pioneers’ Jenny Vaughan missed on a 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining, setting up Ena’s rebound put-back that gave the Lady Griz the lead for good.

Montana hit 17-of-18 free throws in the second half, out-scoring Denver 17 to 2 from the line in the final 20 minutes.

“We stayed strong in the second half against their pressure and it got us to the foul line,” Selvig said. “They stayed aggressive and kept after us, but they got tired.”

Rogers finished with a game-high 24 points, 16 coming in the second half. She connected on 3-of-5 from 3-point range and played all 40 minutes.

Ena was the only other Montana player to reach double figures, scoring 13. It was her fifth straight game scoring in double figures. Ena also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, four on the offensive end.

Lohman, Beck and senior Mandy Morales all scored eight points.

Montana won despite its bench getting out-scored 34-7.

Murdoch led Denver with 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Andie Mason added 12 points, also off the bench, all coming on 3-pointers.

The Lady Griz, who had a 44-31 rebounding advantage, shot 41.7 percent in the second half to finish at 38.9 percent for the game.