LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Despite a career night from Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East) and a career milestone for Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East), the Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team lost an overtime heartbreaker Saturday night, 73-71 at Colorado Christian.
 
Smith, the senior guard who was brilliant in scoring a career-high 29 points, forced overtime by knocking down a clutch 3-pointer just before the buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter.
 
However, Hartegan – the Roadrunners' season scoring leader who scored her 1,000^th career point during the second quarter – had fouled out as MSU Denver played the foul game in the final minute to set up Smith's heroics. And senior Jonalyn Wittwer (Fall Creek, Wis./Fall Creek), the Roadrunners' third-leading scorer, fouled out during the extra session.

"Fouls caught up with us for sure," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We had to have some freshmen in there during overtime, but that was a good experience for them to be able to do that on the road. And it was good for us to get it to overtime. They just made one more play than we did."

 

In overtime, Smith scored on a left-handed drive and Losalini Katia (Wyoming, Australia/Pennant Hills) followed with a nifty drive and reverse layup to give the Roadrunners a 69-66 lead. Katia hit a free throw with 54 seconds left for a 70-68 lead, and Smith made another free throw with 18 seconds left for a 71-69 advantage.
 
But Sarah McGinley drove and scored on a conventional three-point play with 7.4 seconds left to give the Cougars the lead, and Smith missed connections with Morgan Lewis (Pagosa Springs, Colo./Pagosa Springs) on a pass with three seconds left for a turnover.
 
McGinley hit a free throw after a flagrant foul for the final margin, and the Cougars ran out the closing seconds.
 
The Roadrunners dropped to 3-5 overall, and they are 2-1 and tied for fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference despite not yet having a league home game.

"I felt like we should have won this one, but the reality is that you are hoping for a split on this trip (MSU Denver won at Regis on Friday) and combined with last week (a win at Chadron State), we're in pretty good shape," Haave said. "So overall, from a global standpoint, I'm very pleased with where we are. The league is going to be really close. It's goign to be who can win on the road, stay healthy, and stay together. It's going to be a battle every night with every team that we play."

MSU scored six straight points midway through the fourth quarter to turn a four-point deficit into a two-point lead at 58-56.
 
Smith (four) and Hartegan (two) had all the points in the scoring burst, with Smith finishing it off with a crafty post-up basket down low.
 
But Colorado Christian (5-4, 3-0 and tied for first) answered with an 8-2 run and seemed to have the game on ice, leading 64-60 with 13 seconds to go.
 
Smith's layup cut the lead in half, then Colorado Christian's Marie Tsoungui made 1 of 2 free throws with eight seconds left for a 65-62 advantage. That was plenty of time for Smith to dribble up and make the game-tying 3.
 
Smith, who surpassed 1,000 career points last weekend and now has 1,052 for her career, topped her previous career high of 27 points set last season against Colorado State University-Pueblo. She just passed former teammate J'Nae Squires-Horton (Colorado Springs, CO/Sand Creek H.S.) (1,046 points) for ninth on the all-time scoring list.
 
Smith also added six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
Hartegan, who entered the game with 994 points, reached 1,000 on a jumper late in the second quarter and finished with 12 points to improve to 1,006 for her career. The 13^thplayer in program history to reach 1,000, she passed Shiloh Tiritas (who had 1,0001 points from 1994 through 1999) for 12^thplace on the list.
 
"I'm very happy for Emily to get that," Haave said. "She's very deserving."
Hartegan also added seven rebounds.
 
Wittwer and Mikayla Gonzales (Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) each scored eight points. Gonzales was the first of three Roadrunners to foul out. MSU Denver was whistled for 31 fouls in all, while the Cougars had 21.
 
The Roadrunners kept the Cougars' do-it-all forward, Jordan Baer, under wraps with just three first-half points, but she finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. McGinley added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.