DENVER – Even though MSU Denver didn't earn a victory Saturday night, its overall strong play in a 59-54 loss to nationally-ranked Westminster showed that progress is being made.
 
If the Roadrunners can play this way every night, there should be plenty of victories ahead in the final 13 games of the regular season.
 
"I really liked the way we approached the game and the mindset that we had," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tanya Haave said.
 
"We're disappointed that we lost, but that's a good team. And if we had approached the game last night (a loss to Dixie State) the way we did tonight it might have been a different result."
 
Maggie Justinak led the way with a career-high 17 points, as she made 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

"I think this game definitely brought us together," Justinak said. "We had much better communication. We have some pretty tough competition coming up, but if we play together, I think we're in a pretty good spot."
 
Westminster (13-2 overall, 8-1 and first in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), ranked No. 19 in the NCAA Division II coaches' poll, led just 50-46 with 4:55 to play before creating some separation and building the lead to 11 with 1:28 to go by scoring seven straight points.
 
MSU Denver (5-10, 4-5) got back within five with 18 seconds left as Justinak drained her final two 3s.
 
"It just came down to when they really needed to make a play, they were able to and we weren't," Haave said. "That's a testament to our youth. What is emerging as our core group is very young.
 
"That's a big ask of your team, when they've got juniors and seniors and we've got (primarily) sophomores and freshmen."
 
Shooting nights like Justinak had Saturday will be a boost moving forward.
 
"We've got to get her shots, and she's got to look for them," Haave said. "We talked to her about that today at shootaround and she responded well."
 
Mariah Schroeder and Jaela Richardson each scored 10 points, while Schroeder and Jaiden Galloway each had three steals. The Roadrunners forced Westminster into a season-high 22 turnovers.
 
"We played really well, but we just didn't execute all the things we needed to score," Justinak said. "We did really well overall."