Denver- The Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team (1-1) fell to Texas A&M-Commerce 69-68 on Saturday, November 12 at the Auraria Event Center.
After a great win the night before over reigning NCAA DII champion Lubbock Christian, an MSU Denver slow start found them down early 9-2. The Roadrunners were able to rally back to close out the quarter up 23-19 over the Lions. Sophomore
Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East H.S.) led the team in scoring with seven points, three rebounds and five assists.
Texas A&M Commerce outscored the Roadrunners 18-10 in the second quarter to take a 37-33 led into the locker room. At the half, junior
Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East H.S.) had recorded eight points and eight rebounds for the Roadrunners. MSU Denver held the advantage in bench points 12-1.
The Roadrunners narrowed the Lions lead to just three after the third quarter, trailing 57-42. Junior
Georgia Ohrdorf (Wollongong, Australia/St. Mary Star of the Sea College) came to life after a slow start to score 10 points and three boards in the 3
rd. Junior guard
J'Nae Squires-Horton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sand Creek H.S.) also helped keep MSU Denver alive with five points in the quarter.
In the fourth the two teams took it down to the wire, trading leads up until the final minute of the game when Hartegan was fouled going for a second chance attempt. The junior hit both free throws to put MSU Denver up 66-65 with 49.2 second remaning. The Lions answered back with a bucket of their own in the paint to go up 67-66 with 40.3 to play.
Hartegan provided another put back attempt with 28 seconds remaining giving the Roadrunners a 68-67. But yet again, Texas A&M Commerce responded with another layup with 13.2 remaining. Hartegan looked for the win with a jumper that came up just short with four seconds to play and the Lions held on.
MSU Denver will travel for their first two regular season road games of the season next weekend at the Concordia Classic in Portland, Ore. They will begin play against Saint Martin's on Friday, November 18 at 5 p.m. P.T.
