DENVER – There's been a spike in sales for commemorative basketballs in the downtown Denver area.
 
Not only did Tanya Haave become Metropolitan State University of Denver's all-time winningest women's basketball coach last weekend at Chadron State, but senior point guard Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East) became the 12^th player in program history to score 1,000 career points during that same game. Meanwhile, Smith reached the summit just ahead of senior forward Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East), who has 985 points and seems to be a shoo-in to join the club this weekend, as the Roadrunners play 5 p.m. road games Friday at Regis and Saturday at Colorado Christian.
 
Assuming Hartegan gets to her milestone, they will all be recognized for their accomplishments – with commemorative game balls – at the Roadrunners' next home game, Dec. 15 against Colorado Mesa.
 
"Those are players who have meant a lot to this program," Haave said of Smith and Hartegan. "It's a testament to their hard work and having that hard work paying off. They have a lot of resilience, a lot of stick-to-it-iveness."
 
They've also been around for a lot of points. In fact, they played most of their careers with Georgia Ohrdorf (Wollongong, Australia/St. Mary Star of the Sea College) and J'Nae Squires-Horton (Colorado Springs, CO/Sand Creek H.S.), both of whom topped 1,000 points as well before graduating after last season.
 
"Buckets," Smith explained.
 
"I think everybody has been go-getters. Nobody is trying to outshine anyone else or compete against each other. When somebody is on, we're going to ride that wave. Because ultimately it's all leading to the same place."
 
Said Hartegan: "We really work hard. In practice, off the court, and in the weight room. And it shows."
 
A lot of the points have been distributed over the past four years by Smith, who is also closing in on Jasmine Cervantes' school assist record. Cervantes finished with 462, while Smith has 406. At her current rate – a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-leading 5.5 per game – Smith would break the record sometime in late January.
 
"Leading in assists would be great," said Smith, who is 19^th nationally in Division II in assists per game. It's tight to have 1,000 points, but just to know that you can help other people score, that's what's important to me. And that's what I try to do."
 
Smith laughed and added: "And if I don't pass Jazz, she'll never let me hear the end of it.
 
Said Haave: "I think that (the assist record) is the one that's important to her."

Like a prototypical point guard, there's more than just a little bit of coaching instinct that comes with Smith. In fact, like Cervantes before her, she's interested in staying on as a graduate assistant. A nursing major, Smith plans to pursue a master's degree.
 
"I want to be a GA, just so I can kind of see if I have it in me," Smith said. "I just want to test the waters. I mean, I'm a point guard.
 
"I do think it's important for me to know more than the other girls right now, just so I can help them. Because it can be overwhelming, especially for the freshmen. There are so many plays and scenarios."
 
Said Haave: "I would love to have her involved in the program as long as possible. Right now, she's thinking like she's a coach. She's leading like she's a coach. Sometimes it's left her on an island a little bit, and I've told her that's part of being a leader."
 
Like Smith, Hartegan wants to stay around the game, too, possibly pursuing overseas opportunities or as a coach. Or, maybe something completely different.
 
"I feel like there's a lot of options and I'm going to see what comes my way," she said.
 
Haave is thrilled to see Hartegan overcome a knee injury that cut short her 2016-17 season after just six games and led to a medical redshirt.
 
"She knew it was going to be a long road back, and there were some really tough times for her," Haave said. "For her to bounce back from that, I'm really happy for her. It's very satisfying to see that, and that's a big reason why we do what we do – to see stories like that."
 
Said Hartegan: "That was a tough year for me. It was hard coming back. I made the way I play more simple. It's not really about me, it's about what I can do for this team. But (Haave) saying that, it means a lot, because she's been there with me. We cried together a couple of times."
 
Two years ago, Hartegan averaged 15.4 points in the first five games before her injury (she played only three minutes in the sixth game, scoring two points, to drop her average to 13.2). Though she came back to start all 32 games last year, she averaged only 8.9 per game.
 
A crafty inside-outside player, Hartegan this year is sixth in the RMAC in scoring (17.6 per game) and tied for 12^th in rebounds (6.8), leading the team in both categories.
 
She's looking forward to playing at Regis (4-2 overall, 0-1 RMAC), the preseason choice to finish third in the league.
 
"I love playing Regis," Hartegan said. "I like that gym. You can't breathe, you can feel the crowd, and it's always hot in there. I like the hoops. It's a shooter's gym."
 
There's an unusual bit of coincidence surrounding the programs, too. MSU Denver assistant coach Alexa Hardick was previously on the staff at Regis. Hardick's sister was an AAU teammate of Hartegan's growing up in Wylie, Texas. And Hardick had played for the same AAU coach before she was recruited to play at Division I San Francisco by its head coach at the time … Haave. Because she had recruited Hardick (who never played for Haave), Haave knew the AAU coach.
 
"It's cool to see that it's such a small world," Hartegan said. "(Hardick) coached for our rivals. That's fine. … I guess."
 
Meanwhile, Colorado Christian (3-4, 1-0), picked to finish 13^th in the RMAC, is led by preseason All-RMAC star Jordan Baer, who leads the league in scoring (22.7 per game) and field goal percentage (60.6), is fifth in rebounding (7.9 per game) and ranks ninth in steals (2.0) and eighth in blocked shots (0.9).
 
"Conference is long," Hartegan said of the 22-game league season. "We've got to stick together. Like Tanya says, each game is a championship game and we've got to treat it like that."
 
Haave said that, like with Smith, there's an unspoken form of communication between she and Hartegan on the floor.
 
"I knew her AAU coach from recruiting Alexa, and we brought her up for a visit, and she was very, very quiet," Haave said. "She is one I don't have a lot of conversations with, but we have that unspoken understanding. She's always been honest with me about hard things to talk about."
 
Haave started recruiting Smith because she saw something that caught her eye.
 
"We saw her at a tournament, and what sold me on her is that she was falling down and she found a player on the other side of the floor with a perfect pass," Haave said. "And I said, 'That's someone who has a lot of instinct.'"
 
Still, Smith's rapid development was a surprise.
 
"I hope I'm this wrong about everybody, because I told her in high school, 'I don't know when you might play,'" Haave said. "As long as you understand it might take some time, you can still come. She said, 'I still want to come.' And from the moment she stepped foot on this campus, she has worked every day, not saying much, and tried to get better every day.
 
"From the 11^th game of her freshman season on, she has started. No fanfare."
 
And now, with little fanfare, Smith has become the 12^th to score 1,000 points for the Roadrunners. She reached the milestone in clutch fashion, on a layup with 31 seconds left in regulation to bring MSU Denver within 58-56 against Chadron State. She followed that up with two game-tying free throws seven seconds later, forcing overtime in a game the Roadrunners won 64-61.
 
"It's crazy," Smith said. "That's a lot of points when you think about it."
 
Hartegan is about to be No. 13.
 
"Thirteen is a lucky number, so I like that," Hartegan said. "It's a great opportunity, but the team got me here. I'm really thankful."