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DENVER - Metro State defeated Colorado Christian 72-56 on Saturday night at home in a battle of two previously unbeaten teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, moving the Roadrunners closer to sole possession of first place.  The Roadrunners (13-0, 9-0 in the RMAC), remain in a two-way tie with No. 3 Fort Lewis after the Skyhawks drilled Western New Mexico 86-27 on Saturday.

CCU dropped to 9-3 overall and 8-1 in the RMAC.

Trailing 23-22 with six minutes left in the first half, the Roadrunners took control with a 14-1 run and never looked back.  They led 37-26 at halftime behind Cassondra Bratton (Arvada, Colo./Pomona H.S.)'s 11 rebounds and nine points in the first half.  Metro State was without its starting center Tawny Drexler (Golden, Colo./Golden H.S.) for nearly the entire first half after she was whistled for two fouls in the first 45 seconds.

Metro State quickly added to its lead and built it to 18 points just six minutes into the second half at 49-31 as Drexler got involved with a layup as she stayed out of foul trouble in the second half.

CCU went on a 6-0 run to trim the lead to 11 points at 62-51 with 4:45 to go in the game.  But Metro State responded with a 9-0 run, sparked by a 3-pointer by Alyssa Benson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnetonka H.S.), to stretch its lead to 20 with 2:53 left--its largest lead of the game and the Roadrunners were able to hold on to a 16-point victory.

Bratton finished with 15 points and a career high 16 rebounds, the most boards for a Roadrunner since Kristin Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) had 17 against Fort Lewis last March in the RMAC Shootout.  Bratton also had three assists, two steals and a blocked shot to fill up the stat sheet, and she was a perfect 11-for-11 at the line.  She fell just one free throw attempt short of tying the school record for most free throws without a miss in a game.  Megan Johnson was 12-for-12 at the line on Nov. 19, 2004, against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Brandi Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) scored a season high 13 points and had a career high eight rebounds off the bench.  Five other players scored at least seven points.  Benson provided nine points, behind a 4-for-4 performance at the line.  Drexler, Kristin Valencia (Moriarty, N.M./Moriarty H.S.) and Jasmine Cervantes (Johnstown, Colo./Berthoud H.S.) all had eight points.  Cervantes also had a game high four assists.  Candice Kohn (Midland, Texas/Midland Christian H.S.) buried a pair of 3-pointers and scored seven points and added two assists.  Emily Wood (Louisville, Colo./Monarch H.S.) rounded out the scoring with four points and three assists.

Metro State put together one of its most impressive performances at the line in school history, hitting 25-of-27 (.926) at the stripe.  The Roadrunners also dominated the boards as they have all season, outrebounding the Cougars 40-24.  They also forced 19 turnovers and shot 43.1 percent from the floor.

CCU entered the game leading the RMAC in scoring average at 76.0 per game in conference games.  Their 56 points scored was their second-lowest total this season.  The Roadrunners also shut down their 3-point game as CCU hit 6-of-14.  That snapped a streak of three games at CCU had 10 or more 3-point field goals and the 14 attempts were the second-fewest this season.

The Roadrunners continue a four-game homestand next weekend when they host Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday and UC-Colorado Springs on Saturday.  Both games start at 5 p.m.