DENVER – MSU Denver assistant coach Taylor Proctor owes some players dinner.
 
"We've really been working on having the guard hitting the high post against the double-team," forward Allie Navarette said. "And then trying to get high-lows. Coach said if we got four of them she'd make us dinner. It was open and we executed."
 
MSU Denver used the play Navarette described multiple times Thursday, including to score the go-ahead basket for a 61-59 lead with 1:28 to play, and then Maggie Justinak hit yet another key jump shot before the Roadrunners held on for a 64-62 win over South Dakota Mines.
 
"It's the best feeling to end the first half of your season with a win, especially at home," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "The players are able to see their hard work start to pay off and it's really important to see some success."
 
One thing they've been working on is how to attack when opponents throw out a "high hedge" – a quasi-double team – when the Roadrunners play pick-and-roll near the top of the key.
 
"What we do to combat that is get the ball swung real quick to our opposite post and the other one dives, and if they don't get back quick enough, it works," Haave said. "We've been working on that."
 
Morgan Lewis, who had four assists on the night, was the post getting the passes to a cutting Navarette. Were all the assists on that play? We'll leave it to film review to decide.
 
Just in case, Proctor may want to start putting together a menu.
 
"I think we'll need to make them dinner," Haave said. "But they don't want me to make anything."
 
Navarette, the transfer from Hawaii-Hilo who is Division II's active scoring leader, increased her scoring total for a fourth straight game by getting 29, and she now has 1,511 career points.
 
"She's just a scorer," Haave said. "She has that knack."
 
But just as big were the contributions of Justinak, who had season bests of 15 points (on 7 of 14 shooting) and five assists.
 
"She was hitting some big shots for us, and we need that aggressive attack from her," Navarette said.
 
After a solid first half, Justinak had 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting with three assists and no turnovers. She was automatic on pull-up jumpers in the lane.
 
"If they're going to leave me open, I'm going to take that shot," Justinak said. "They weren't rolling for me at first, but at halftime Morgan told me, 'That's yours. Watch it happen.' And it did.
"I haven't been able to get to my jump shot as much as I would like, so having that opportunity presented was really nice. I was able to get to my mid-range and hopefully I can continue doing that."
 
After Justinak's last bucket made it 63-59 with 58 seconds left, South Dakota Mines' Ryan Weiss (who had 31 points, 13 rebounds and five steals) hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game.
 
But Lewis hit a free throw with seven seconds left for the game's final points, and Weiss misfired from 3 just before the buzzer.
 
Navarette added eight rebounds and three assists for the Roadrunners, while Lewis contributed seven points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Roadrunners improved to 3-3 overall and are tied for fifth in the RMAC at 2-2 after winning two straight.
 
"We're so happy to go into Christmas break with two wins under our belt," Navarette said. "We want to keep building the momentum as a team and stick together. We've been working so hard."