Denison rattled off 16-straight points in the opening four-plus minutes and never looked back as they opened the North Coast Athletic Conference season with a 72-48 victory at Oberlin on Wednesday night.

The Big Red capitalized on their first seven possessions of the contest, scoring every time they had the ball. Following a pair of offensive boards on the game's first possession, sophomore Jordan Holmes put DU on the board off an assist from sophomore Gabrielle Nottage. Holmes went on to score two more times during the run, while Nottage also had a layup. Junior Kellie Arter provided the deep threat over the four-minute span, scoring six of her eight points from beyond the arc.

The Yeowomen ended the scoring drought at 15:16, but Denison's offense continued to click en route to taking 41-15 lead with just over four minutes on the clock. Oberlin shrunk the deficit to 41-21 late in the half, but a Taylor Lindquist jumper with 50 seconds to go sent the Big Red into the locker room with a 22-point lead.

The home team started to chip away at the deficit in the second half behind an eight-point spurt from Lindsey Bernhardt. However, Denison answered with its own eight-point run to regain a 51-29 advantage. The Yeowomen got within 15 points one more time, but a 15-6 burst over the final 11 minutes locked up DU's dominating victory.

Denison shot 57 percent (30-for-53) from the field, thanks in large part to an 18-for-28 (64 percent) showing in the first half. The Big Red also connected on 4-for-8 (50 percent) from long range and 8-of-10 (80 percent) at the foul line. Oberlin went 17-for-64 (27 percent) from the floor and hit just eight of their 26 attempts (31 percent) from three-point range. DU outrebounded Oberlin 44-26 and scored 36 points in the paint compared to OC's 14 tallies down low.

Holmes paced Denison with a career-high tying 18 points on 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. The sophomore also had 18 of the team's 44 rebounds to go along with five blocks, four steals and four assists. Nottage finished 8-for-10 from the field en route to a career-high 17 points. Nottage also logged four assists and three steals in 24 minutes. Arter chipped in 14 points and three assists, while senior Mary Margaret Habel was solid in the paint with a career-high 11 rebounds.

Bernhardt led all scorers with 25 points behind a 7-for-13 outing from 3-point range and a 9-for-18 night from the floor. Christina Marquette grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists, while Marquette and Bernhardt each had four steals. Anna Moore chipped in 10 points and three steals off the bench.

With the win, Denison moves to 3-4 on the year and 1-0 in the NCAC, while Oberlin falls to 3-3 and 0-1 in league play. The Big Red continues their season-opening road trip on Saturday at Case Western Reserve University. Tip-off in Cleveland is slated for 1 p.m.