DENVER – At first glance, it may appear there are some big shoes to fill on the Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team.
 
Gone are two-time All-RMAC first-team selection Georgia Ohrdorf (Wollongong, Australia/St. Mary Star of the Sea College) and her 15.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Also absent is second-team All-RMAC pick J'Nae Squires-Horton (Colorado Springs, CO/Sand Creek H.S.), who was second on the team in scoring (12.4) while making a team-best 2.0 3s per game.
 
But Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East), also second-team All-RMAC, and two other starters are back: forwards Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East) and Jonalyn Wittwer (Fall Creek, Wis./Fall Creek).
 
Those two starters, coach Tanya Haave said, could in some ways make up for the lost production.
 
"Emily was hurt (in the 2016-17 season) when she was averaging (13) points and (8) rebounds per game, and she and Georgia were playing really well together," Haave said. "She's a scorer who can rebound and is an enforcer who doesn't back down. She's got a good mid-range game. She's going to be in more of the role like she had before she got hurt.
 
"Jonalyn is a really consistent player who plays great defense and doesn't make a lot of mistakes. After losing J'Nae, she'll be taking on that outside scoring role, where should would defer more last year. And J'Nae was our defensive stopper on the perimeter, and the early indications are that Jonalyn is wanting to, and can, fill that role."
 
Hartegan averaged 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds last year, while Wittwer chipped in with 6.2 points and shot 37.4 points from 3 (45 of 121).
 
Meanwhile, in Smith, the Roadrunners have a strong option after she averaged 11.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and a team-best 4.7 assists last year. But her contributions will be measured in more than just numbers.
 
"She's really stepped up in terms of her leadership," Haave said. "I like the consistency she has shown so far, how if she's gotten frustrated she hasn't shown it and just stays with it.
 
"You want your seniors kind of coaching the underclassmen, and she's done a fantastic job of that. She's experienced enough to know what we need, maybe more scoring one night, more assists another. She's cutting down on her turnovers and she's stepped up her defensive game as well."
 
With Smith leading and Hartegan and Wittwer moving into more prominent roles, players like Bree Wellington (Fresno, Calif./Buchanan) and Mikayla Gonzales (Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) will be looking to pick up the production that Hartegan and Wittwer gave last season. Both started MSU Denver's exhibition game Monday against Taylor (Ind.), with Wellington getting 11 points and six rebounds, and Gonzales adding 10 and five.

A talented group of newcomers figure to handle the bulk of the minutes off the bench.
 
The Roadrunners are picked to repeat their second-place Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference from last year, when they went 17-5 in league play.
 
But they won't exactly ease their way into the season. The non-conference portion of the schedule is difficult.
 
They open at noon MST Friday at NCAA Division II No. 10 Lubbock Christian (Texas). And even though the Lady Chaps lost three-time All-American Tess Bruffey from their Elite Eight team, there doesn't appear to be much of a dropoff – they played two exhibition games against NCAA Division I teams, beating Southern Methodist and playing New Mexico close.
 
"You do have to play the best if you want to be the best, and there's no question that for the last three or four years, they've been a top program," Haave said of a program that won the 2016 national championship.
 
"Generally speaking, I don't mind playing challenging teams. It depends on what kind of team you have, but I do think we have enough experience."
 
Haave said it's helpful that the Roadrunners ended last season in the same Rip Griffin Center as they'll play this weekend. MSU Denver (23-9 last year) won a first-round game in the Division II tournament before losing in the second round to West Texas A&M.
 
"We've had some success there," Haave said. "We were in an NCAA tournament there. And the players who are playing a lot of minutes are familiar with the gym."
 
MSU Denver finishes up the weekend at the Taj Hospitality Classic with a 4 p.m. MST game Saturday against Texas A&M-Commerce which, like Lubbock Christian, is a team that beat the Roadrunners. The Lions are picked to finish fourth in the Lone Star Conference this year.
 
"There's not many people back," Haave said. "And their style of play is to get up and down the floor – it's a tough style. We're definitely biting off a lot for this first weekend."