DENVER – Who knew that the back-to-the-basket post player that MSU Denver was recruiting out of basketball-mad Pagosa Springs, Colo., would one day soon be a clutch perimeter player at the NCAA Division II level?
 
Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tanya Haave, that's who.
 
"In the recruiting process, coach told me that was her idea of what we were going to do," sophomore Morgan Lewis said.
 
And, sure enough, Lewis has seamlessly made the transition from post to shooting guard during the course of 1 ½ seasons. And, this past Saturday, her game-tying 3-pointer with 1:03 to play against Colorado Christian started a game-ending 7-0 run in a 58-54 Roadrunners victory.
 
"There was a plan that maybe she wouldn't play much for two years as we transitioned her to a perimeter player," Haave said. "But obviously she's way ahead of schedule. It's satisfying to see a plan start to work out.
 
"Getting to know her, talking to her coaches, seeing her recruiting video with her teammates talking about her character, we knew she had the work ethic and that she had come from a winning program. I just had a gut feeling about it and I thought it was worth taking a chance."
 
Up next for Lewis and the Roadrunners is a key early-season road trip to Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado for games Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m., respectively. All three teams involved are 2-0 to start the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of the schedule. Overall, MSU Denver is 3-5, while Colorado Mesa is 6-2 and Western Colorado is 4-2.
 
"We're all 2-0 in the conference, so it's going to be two more tough games that we'll have to grind out," Lewis said. "I'm excited about it. It's going to be tough."
 
Lewis arrived well ahead of schedule even last season as a true freshman, when she carved out a small role for herself by the time RMAC play rolled around. She wound up shooting 59.0 percent from the field while averaging 3.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in just 8.7 minutes and appeared in 27 of the team's 29 games. Project her averages out over 40 minutes, and she averaged 14.6 points and 15.4 rebounds.
 
Most of that was done, though, as a forward.
 
The transformation began in the offseason, as three post players with high qualifications – Leya Harvey, Kimauri Toia and Gabi Lucero – joined the program.
 
"Going from a back-to-the-basket post to a shooting guard was really nerve-wracking," Lewis said. "But now that I'm in it and doing it, it's exciting, and I really like expanding my game like that.
 
"Over the summer, they gave me guard workouts. I did a lot of work, a lot of shooting, a lot of getting more comfortable ball-handling. And now I'll stay after practice with (assistant coach) Alexa (Hardick) and shoot to get more shots up. Whenever I can find time, I try to do a little extra."
 
Lewis has played at the shooting guard, small forward and power forward positions this season.
 
"She's done a great job for us, and she's starting to get more comfortable defensively," Haave said. "She understands the concepts and she has enough quickness, it's just getting used to playing defense away from the basket."
 
In high school, playing for her uncle, Wes Lewis, she had career averages of 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. She averaged 17.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.5 blocked shots as a senior. She even averaged 5.3 points as a freshman for a team that won the Class 3A state championship.
 
"My senior year I started to do a little bit of everything, just because I had experience and they needed me to do that," Lewis said. "Most of the time, I really was just back-to-the-basket. I started shooting some 3s as a senior, but I was never a ballhandler."
 
She went to basketball camps at multiple RMAC schools growing up, including both opponents this weekend as well as nearby Fort Lewis and Adams State. One place she didn't attempt camp was MSU Denver, but she wound up there anyway for multiple factors, including the institution's construction management program.
 
"I didn't want to be too far away from home, but I didn't want to be too close," Lewis said. "So this seemed like the perfect distance. And I wanted a change of scenery. Being from a small town, I wanted to explore a bigger city."
 
Five hours away from home, she began becoming a highly-efficient perimeter player.
 
Ironically, before her clutch 3 against Colorado Christian, Lewis was having a rarity – an average game. She had missed per previous four 3-point tries.
 
"After the fourth one I missed, I just thought, 'OK, it's not going to happen tonight,'" Lewis said. "I'm going to go do something else. I'm going to rebound and play defense.
 
"Then it just happened. We drew a play up, they took it away and the ball swung to me. If I missed, I missed, but if I made it, we would be tied. I guess I had to. Coach had just told me to take a deep breath, and that I'm a good shooter."
 
Lewis said she and her teammates gained valuable experience while going 0-5 to start the season against teams that compiled a combined record of 30-9. The toughness and resiliency helped them overcome a team-wide tough shooting night to still get a win against Colorado Christian.
 
"There's no doubt about it," Haave said in agreement. "We had to grind a game out, and we've had that experience. Now we have to do that on the road. Every single week we want to make progress. This weekend is the next step."