SALT LAKE CITY – So, so close.

Despite a 29-point showing in the fourth quarter that brought the Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team nearly all the way back from a 14-point halftime deficit, the Roadrunners fell to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference co-leader Westminster 73-71 at Behnken Field House in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.

"It was a great second half," MSU Denver head coach Tanya Haave said after the game. "We competed. We want to build on that. We've just got to keep getting better. It was night and day between first half and second half. We just competed and it was really nice to see."

MSU Denver (5-10, 4-5 and T-10^th RMAC) knew it had a tall task at hand in Saturday's matchup with Westminster (11-2, 9-0 and T-1^st RMAC). The Roadrunners did not play scared, however, matching the Griffins blow-for-blow in the first quarter to exit the opening period in a 14-14 tie.

The second quarter was all Westminster, who outscored MSU Denver 22-8 in the period. However, the Roadrunners refused to give up and clawed back into the game with a 20-spot in the third quarter to cut the Griffins' lead to 49-42 with 10 minutes to play.

Westminster maintained a lead of six or seven points for about five minutes of the fourth quarter, but MSU Denver hung around. A layup by freshman guard Jaiden Galloway (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) cut the Griffins' lead to three at 61-58 with 3:42 remaining, but the lead stretched to six again at the 1:41 mark.

Fellow freshman Abbigail Juozapaitis (Snohomish, Wash./Glacier Peak) responded with a key 3-pointer to cut that lead in half with 1:34 to go before senior guard Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East) converted on a steal to layup sequence with 31 seconds remaining to make it 67-65 in favor of Westminster.

Unfortunately, Westminster hit all six of its free throws in the last 30 seconds of the contest and the Roadrunners never got within less than two points. Smith did her best Isiah Thomas impression with eight points in the final 31 seconds of the game as part of MSU Denver's 29 points in the final period, but the comeback simply ran out of time.

Smith had another mind-boggling statistical performance, scoring 22 points (her fifth game of the season with 20+ points) and adding six rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Senior Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East) is becoming a walking double-double, as she secured her fourth straight with a 19-point, 12-rebound game in which she shot 9 of 15 from the field.

MSU Denver found another scoring and rebounding option off the bench in freshman Morgan Lewis (Pagosa Springs, Colo./Pagosa Springs), who saw a career-high 27 minutes of playing time on Saturday. Lewis did not waste her time on the court, scoring a career-high 12 points with a nearly flawless shooting performance (5 of 6 from the floor and 2 of 2 from the free throw line).

Lewis added a career-high tying six rebounds, including two offensive boards that contributed to MSU Denver's 12 second-chance points. Hartegan had six offensive boards of her own as MSU Denver outrebounded Westminster 34-27 on the night and a whopping 14-3 on the offensive glass.

While unsatisfied with moral victories, the Roadrunners showed great improvement in the rebounding battle. In comparison with MSU Denver's 14 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points, Westminster's three offensive boards led to just four second-chance points.

"I think Emily (Hartegan) was just amazing on the boards again," Haave said. "Morgan Lewis (Pagosa Springs, Colo./Pagosa Springs) did a great job getting to some rebounds. We found a good combination of players that was clicking in that second half. We were right there knocking on the door. If we can put 40 minutes like that together consistently, we'll be good. I think some kids got some playing time and some freshmen grew up."

The Roadrunners also bounced back from Friday's shooting woes, making 28 of 65 attempts from the field (43.1%) and 10 of 13 attempts from the charity stripe (76.9%).

MSU Denver will try to find the win column once again when it returns home to face CSU-Pueblo on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MT. A showdown with New Mexico Highlands will follow on Saturday at 5 p.m. from the Auraria Event Center.