Denver – The Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team defeated N.M. Highlands 65-59 on Friday night. The Roadrunners improve to 8-12 overall and 6-8 in the RMAC while N.M. Highlands falls to 3-15 overall and 1-13 in the RMAC.

MSU Denver was led in scoring by sophomore Hannah Stipanovich (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton H.S.) who had a double-double scoring 19 points and had 10 rebounds. She was closely followed by freshman Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East H.S.) who scored 17 points and had eight rebounds.

The Roadrunners started off fast in the first half with a shooting percentage of 72.73% from inside the arch. Senior Luisa Tago (Medford, Ore./South Medford H.S.) had three of the six steals the Roadrunners had in the first half. The defensive pressure kept New Mexico Highlands to a 26.9% shooting from inside the arch and 36.4% beyond the arch. Both teams went into the locker room with MSU Denver leading 30-23.

The Roadrunners came out with the same mentality in the second half. Smith scored 12 points and had four assists to boost MSU Denver to a 65-59 finish.
New Mexico Highlands was led in scoring by Michelle Traynham who scored 18 points.

MSU Denver will return to the court on Saturday night to face Western New Mexico. Game time is set for 5 p.m. at the Auraria Event Center.