DENVER – When MSU Denver was 3-8 earlier this season, Roadrunners coach
Tanya Haave called in her four seniors for a meeting.
Where the team went from that point forward, the coach said, was up to the seniors.
"She said that we set the tone for everybody," forward
Mikayla Gonzales (Castle Rock, Colo./Castle View) said. "It came together and I think we all stepped up. We started talking more, started playing better together. I think we came to the realization that she was right, we are the leaders and we needed to step it up and show the younger kids what it takes to get somewhere."
In the two months since, the Roadrunners have gone 12-4. They've shot up to third place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a 14-7 record in league play.
So, yes, the senior class has made its mark.
"They've really come together," said Haave, who had her seniors run practice the day of the season-changing meeting. "Each of them has been unique. It's become a really solid, special, senior class. It's been fun to see their progression, especially during this season. We talked about it, mid-year, that we would go as far as they take us. And I think they took that to heart. They've done a great job."
Now, their time is beginning to come to an end.
Star point guard
Jaelynn Smith (Denver, Colo./East), persevering forward
Emily Hartegan (Wylie, Texas/Wylie East), sharpshooter
Jonalyn Wittwer (Fall Creek, Wis./Fall Creek) and the ever-steady Gonzales – all starters – will go through Senior Night ceremonies prior to Friday's 5:30 p.m. home game with Chadron State at the Auraria Event Center.
"You don't realize that time goes so fast until it's actually happened," Wittwer said. "It'll be on our home court, but hopefully it won't be the last."
The Roadrunners would clinch the third seed for the conference tournament with a victory. Unofficially, they appear to have wrapped up at least the fourth seed and home-court advantage for the first round of the tournament, though the tiebreaking scenario is close and the RMAC hasn't announced official scenarios.
MSU Denver, at 15-12, isn't included in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional top 10, even though it has quickly improved its resume since that fateful meeting with the seniors and Haave.
The Roadrunners have the 10
th-best RPI in the region, have the region's 10
th best strength of schedule, have the 11
th-best record against Division II teams with records of .500 or better, are 13
th in performance indicator (another formula used by the regional ranking committee) are tied for 13
th in Division II in-region winning percentage and are 16
th in Division II winning percentage among regional teams.
So not being quite in the regional top 10 seems fair, though it's worth noting that 10
th-ranked Black Hills State has lost both of its games to MSU Denver during its late season surge. Black Hills State is one of many potential opponents in first-round RMAC tournament matchup scenarios.
After three automatic qualifiers from tournament champions in the RMAC, Lone Star and Heartland Conferences, the next five highest-ranked teams also advance to the NCAA Tournament.
"(Senior Night) is a bittersweet moment, but it doesn't feel like it's over yet either," Gonzales said. "There's a lot left in store. So I'm not feeling bad or sad right now, I'm excited to see what we can do in the postseason."
MSU Denver's seniors stories and accomplishments are diverse and wide-ranging.
The 5-foot-7 Smith is the only player in Division II who is averaging at least 15.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.9 steals. She's MSU Denver's all-time leader in assists (535) and is the school's single-season leader in assists (162). She ranks fourth in career points (1,333), and she's tied for fifth in career steals (177). She also ranks first in free throws made (475) and is just outside the school's top 10 in career rebounds (626). In RMAC games this season she is second in the league in scoring (16.5 points per game), first in assists (6.0), sixth in steals (2.1) and 11
th in rebounds (6.8).
Not bad for a player that Haave once thought about steering towards a junior college, then thought about redshirting as a freshman. Smith became a starter during her first season.
"I've never been more happy to have been so wrong," Haave said, laughing.
Said Smith: "It's crazy that time went by so fast. Even March 1 seemed like it was so far away, but now it's Friday. But it's been a great senior year. We've had a great turnaround."
The 6-foot Hartegan will also leave her name all over the MSU Denver record book. She's sixth in scoring, with 1,239 points, 10
th in rebounds, with 637, and she has the best free throw percentage (87.4) in school history. In league play this season she's 10
th in scoring (13.8), fourth in rebounds (8.8) and second in field goal percentage (55.1).
She has done much of that despite a knee injury cut short her 2016-17 season after six games. She played in pain last year and went through Senior Night festivities, and it wasn't until this past summer that she decided to come back for one more year.
"This is my second (Senior Night)," Hartegan said, laughing. "Second time is a charm.
"If you had told me last year that I would be back this year, I would have laughed. But I met with Tanya over the summer and the next thing I knew I was signing papers. My knee feels better than last year. I came back and I'm really glad I did. I couldn't see it any other way."
Said Haave: "Her loyalty to the program, to the coaching staff, and to come back from her knee injury, and she's done an outstanding job with our freshmen and has been a leader for them. We'll forever be indebted to her. And she's back to where she was before the injury.
"She loves the game so much, you know that a few years down the road that if she hadn't tried to play this year, she would have regretted it. So I'm so glad she got the chance."
Wittwer, meanwhile, has made her mark in NCAA Division II and RMAC history. Not only was she named the RMAC's Academic Player of the Year (she carries a 3.95 GPA while majoring in biology), she also set school, RMAC and Division II records while making 11 3-pointers against New Mexico Highlands on Jan. 19. The 11 made 3s shattered previous records, and she made her last nine 3s in a row to tie the national record for consecutive made 3s in a single game.
The 6-foot Wittwer has scored 696 career points, ranks fourth in school history with 147 made 3s, and is tied for fourth with a career free throw percentage of 84.0. She's an excellent defender and, despite her accuracy, she's a sometimes reluctant shooter.
"What she's done on and off the court, the academics, has been so impressive," Haave said. "And to see her development as a player. She would always defer, defer, defer. She's probably the first player I've ever had to take out for not shooting. But that just tells you the type of person she is. She's very humble, very selfless."
Gonzales has worked her way into a starting role as a senior. She came to MSU Denver after one junior-college season that left her disillusioned, and she reached out to the Roadrunners about joining the program rather than the other way around. The 5-9 forward is averaging 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds this season and has career totals of 281 points and 197 rebounds.
"Nobody has fit in better, personality-wise, than she has," Haave said. "She's been a perfect fit for us. We're so glad that she ended up here."
Said Gonzales: "I went out on a limb to come here," Gonzales said. "My three years here have been amazing. I've made great friendships, I've traveled and it's been a really good experience."
In her three seasons, Gonzales has played on teams that have won 56 games. Hartegan's full seasons have included 64 victories. Smith and Wittwer have joined forces for four years and have won 69 games.
"In the last three years, we've really stuck together and grown that family feeling on the team," Wittwer said. "And as new girls have come, we've added them into it. It's been a really cool thing to see it grow. I've been blessed to be beside those three the whole time."
