Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Metro State women's basketball team opened the 2010-11 season with a 49-46 win at Montana State-Billings on Saturday.  Head Coach Tanya Haave became just the second coach in school history to win her first game at Metro State.  Darryl Smith won his first game in 1990 against Colorado Mines.

Cassondra Bratton (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.) led the Roadrunners on Saturday with 10 points and had eight rebounds.  Metro State dominated the boards, outrebounding the Yellow Jackets 43-23.  Kristin Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) had a game-high nine rebounds and Tawny Drexler (Golden, Colo./Golden H.S.) also had eight.  Valencia, Drexler and Jasmine Cervantes (Johnstown, Colo./Berthoud H.S.) all scored eight points.  Valencia also had four steals.

The Roadrunners shot 40.8 percent from the floor, despite going 0-for-8 from the outside.  They also committed 24 turnovers.

Metro State built an 11-point lead with under six minutes left in the first half at 24-13 as Alyssa Benson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnetonka H.S.) hit a pair of jumpers.  MSUB closed the first half on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 28-26 at the break.

Again, Metro State built a double digit lead and led by 10 points with under five minutes to play.  A layup by Beata Bak cut the lead to two at 48-46 with 34 seconds left, but Bratton hit 1-of-2 free throws with eight seconds on the clock and the Roadrunners prevented the Yellow Jackets from getting a shot off on their final possession.

Metro State will play at Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in Billings on Monday.