DENVER – Gabi Lucero has shown flashes in practice.
 
On Saturday night, she lit it up all game long.
 
The true freshman post player, who scored more than 1,500 points as a high school player and is among Colorado's all-time prep leaders with more than 1,200 rebounds, had career bests of 14 points and seven rebounds to lead MSU Denver to a 58-54 victory over Colorado Christian.
 
"She's extremely competitive, and she's a perfectionist," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "It's really great to see her hard work pay off. And she's getting it defensively, that's the biggest thing. But she was really aggressive going to the rim and we wouldn't be here without her."
 
While appearing in six of MSU Denver's first seven games, Lucero had scored 13 points while grabbing 12 rebounds.
 
But she got her chance for extended playing time Saturday with Leya Harvey and Bree Wellington in foul trouble. Both fouled out while playing a combined 28 minutes.
 
"I just have to thank my team for getting the ball in to me," Lucero said. "And then you just have to attack hard.
 
"I've always been the 'big' on my team, the one who posted up. I have to thank my team a lot, because they're not selfish, they care about the little freshman."
 
Junior guard Mariah Schroeder, who also had 14 points, said teammates were pleased to see Lucero come through.
 
"Gabi stepped up, which was awesome," Schroeder said. "She did so well. She kind of let her training take over and she did what she does best.
 
"Freshman year, practice can be tough. I've been there and done that. Your confidence can get taken down a little bit, but I think she just kind of put it behind her."
 
Lucero's contributions helped give the Roadrunners (3-5 overall) the chance to win a game that they led for less than seven minutes.
 
Morgan Lewis, normally one of MSU Denver's most efficient players, had been having a bit of an off night, but – after missing her first four 3-point attempts – she calmly drained a game-tying triple with 1:03 left, making it 54-54.
 
"I'd told her about three minutes before that she had to keep shooting it," Haave said. "Shooters have to keep shooting it. We got the penetration and pitch, and the one we really needed, she knocked it down. And she had the confidence to do it, and that's fantastic."
 
Lucero got a steal on the next possession, then Schroeder knocked down two free throws with 25 seconds left to put MSU Denver in the lead.

Then, after an extended possession in which the Roadrunners used a couple of fouls, MSU Denver eventually got the ball back on an offensive foul by Colorado Christian.
 
Schroeder was fouled and sank two more free throws with six seconds left to clinch it.
 
Wellington finished with nine points, while Lewis had eight points and seven rebounds.
 
It was a much different win than Friday night, when MSU Denver put up 79 points in a five-point victory over Regis. The Roadrunners shot just 30.2 percent from the field Saturday while committing 17 turnovers. But the Roadrunners grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, had a 44-28 rebounding edge, and held the Cougars to 30.8 percent shooting in the fourth quarter.
 
"I think our defense saved us," Schroeder said. "We kept getting stops and kept getting rebounds."
 
So despite a rough start against high-quality competition in preseason play, the Roadrunners have now won three straight and are unbeaten in RMAC play at 2-0.
 
"The resiliency that we've shown through the non-conference season … we weren't getting results, weren't getting results, but it's starting to pay off," Haave said.
 
Said Lucero: "It feels pretty awesome. Starting off was pretty rough, but now we're starting to get in the groove."