DENVER – Some results are just tough to swallow.

This was one of them.

The MSU Denver women's basketball team led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter against South Dakota Mines on Friday evening, but the Hardrockers came from behind to defeat the Roadrunners by a 58-52 final.

MSU Denver (8-12, 7-7 and ninth place Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) played great defense in the first half, holding South Dakota Mines (9-9, 7-7 and eighth place RMAC) to 28.1% shooting from the field (9 of 32). The Roadrunners exited the first 20 minutes of play with a 26-21 advantage heading into the break, with Maggie Justinak's nine points and six rebounds leading the way.

The Roadrunners started the second half on a 9-0 run, with five points coming on an instant Mariah Schroeder 3-pointer and another Schroeder bucket during that stretch of 4:09.

At that point, the Hardrockers took advantage of MSU Denver turnovers to claw back into the game.

"We had a couple turnovers and then could never get the momentum back," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said following the game. "We couldn't get stops."

South Dakota Mines ended the third quarter on a 16-4 run, making it a two-point game at 39-37 with 10 minutes to play.

The Hardrockers took their first lead in over 20 minutes of game time with 7:32 remaining in the game, and unfortunately, they never looked back. Their lead grew to seven by the 5:36 mark, and despite another big 3-pointer from Justinak to make it 50-46 with just over five minutes left, MSU Denver couldn't string together enough buckets for the comeback.

Justinak, who scored a team-leading 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds along with a block and a steal, was frustrated with the loss but knows her team has the perspective it needs to make a turnaround for tomorrow's matchup with Black Hills State.

"We just need to come in with a positive mindset and know what we're fighting for," Justinak said. "It's bigger than just the game. That's the main thing we need to focus on moving forward tomorrow night."

That extra inspiration Justinak was referring to comes from We Back Pat, an effort by the Pat Summitt Foundation to raise awareness for Alzheimer's. The Roadrunners celebrated We Back Pat Night on Friday, wearing purple warm-up shirts while the coaching staff donned purple outfits.

Haave played for Summitt during her college career at Tennessee in the early 1980s and left UT as the Lady Vols' all-time leading scorer.

With her experience, Haave knows what it takes to be successful – and much of her coaching wisdom comes from Summitt.

Haave's encouragement for her team tomorrow evening will be simple: play hard and stay together.

"We just have to come out ready to compete for 40 minutes," she said. "We've got to just really stay focused. I think the key is it's really easy when things go wrong to start splintering, so we really need to stay together."

MSU Denver hosts Black Hills State at 5 p.m. Saturday night at the Auraria Event Center.