LUBBOCK, Texas – Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East) is back.

Sidelined by an injury for most of the 2016-17 season, Hartegan has battled back to rediscover the player she was before getting hurt. As of Saturday, it's safe to say she's found herself again.

Hartegan dropped 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting Saturday against Texas A&M-Commerce (1-1) in the second game of the TAJ Hospitality Classic for the Roadrunners, leading all scorers. Despite her big night, MSU Denver (0-2) found itself in too deep a hole too many times against the Lions, ultimately dropping the contest 71-66.

"This was a great game for (Emily)," MSU Denver head coach Tanya Haave said of Hartegan, who averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds while starting all 32 games last season after averaging 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in six games two seasons ago. "She's starting to find her groove. That was the role she was in before she got hurt. On Monday (in an exhibition against Taylor) she struggled a bit, but we all have to realize we have a new team. We're all really in new roles with losing three seniors. (Emily) will compete. She will definitely provide that leadership for us, and so will (Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East))."

It was a tale of four unique quarters for both teams as the pendulum of momentum swung back and forth throughout the game. Commerce led after 10 minutes of play, 20-13, dominating the Roadrunners on the glass with an 11-5 rebounding advantage.

The Roadrunners responded in the second quarter, outscoring the Lions by nearly the same score, 20-12, thanks to 53.8% shooting and an impressive 4-for-7 mark beyond the arc during the period. When the clock ran out in the first half, MSU Denver held a 33-32 lead.

Texas A&M-Commerce basically repeated its first-quarter performance in the third frame, outscoring MSU Denver 21-14 to grab a 53-47 lead. That six-point advantage more or less stayed intact for the remainder of the game, as the Lions fended off multiple comeback attempts by the Roadrunners.

Though Commerce expanded its lead to 10 with about nine minutes remaining, MSU Denver wasn't finished. Jumpers by Hartegan and fellow senior Jonalyn Wittwer (Fall Creek, Wis./Fall Creek) cut the deficit to six with 8:07 left, and a layup by senior Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East) cut the Lions' lead to four, 59-55, with 5:38 remaining. The deficit was back to nine with 4:16 left, but MSU Denver went on a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to get within three at 65-62.

The game was well within reach at the point for the Roadrunners, who called Hartegan's name for a pullup jumper to trim the lead all the way down to a single point, 65-64, with 31 seconds remaining in the contest. After a Commerce timeout, Lion Princess Davis made two free throws to make it 67-64. The Roadrunners needed points fast, but it took 20 seconds for a Wittwer layup to cut the deficit to one.

Davis made two more free throws with three seconds remaining, and fellow Lion Ekaterina Zhibareva added two more from the charity stripe to put the Roadrunners away, 71-66. MSU Denver shot 47 percent to Texas A&M-Commerce's 38 percent mark, but the Lions capitalized on their 26 free throw attempts by making 19 while MSU Denver was just six-for-nine.

"It was anybody's game," Haave said. "It's a style that we haven't seen and it took us about a quarter to get into it. We could just never get over the hump. Their pressure bothered us and forced us into some things we don't want to do. It's a game you wish you could have back."

While the Roadrunners missed an opportunity for a quality non-conference win Saturday night, Haave knows the team will learn from its early struggles and will likely look back on this game as a necessary step in its growth as a unit.

"It's going to be a learning experience for us," said Haave. "It needs to be. It was last year, this tournament. Even though we played well against Lubbock Christian in the first quarter (on Friday), we played with more fight and a better sense of urgency tonight than we did last night. That's what we're looking for, just that growth every game. We showed spurts of being good and what we can be, we just need to be more consistent. That was the takeaway of the weekend."

Hartegan also led the squad with eight rebounds, adding three assists. Wittwer scored 13, while Smith had six rebounds and six assists to go with four points. Freshman Abbigail Juozapaitis (Snohomish, Wash./Glacier Peak) scored six points and had five rebounds and four assists.

The Roadrunners will next hit the court for their home opener at the Auraria Event Center next Saturday against West Texas A&M. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. MT. Follow @MSUDenverSports and @MSUDenverWBB on Twitter for MSU Denver women's hoops coverage.