SPEARFISH, S.D. – MSU Denver picked up a huge Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference road victory on Friday, defeating Black Hills State 64-55.
 
Morgan Lewis had her fourth career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and she matched a career best with three steals, as the Roadrunners improved to 11-13 overall and maintained a tie for eighth place in the RMAC at 10-8.
 
"We played with great effort," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "They were inspired. It was one of the better wins, in terms of being proud of a team, that I've ever had as a coach."
 
Jaela Richardson added 12 points and Mariah Schroeder had 10 points and tied a career high with three steals.
 
Maggie Justinak and Jaiden Galloway each scored nine as MSU Denver pulled within one game of the three-way tie for fifth place that includes Black Hills State (14-9, 11-7).
 
MSU Denver swept the two-game series with the Yellow Jackets and thus has the tiebreaker should that be necessary to determine qualifying or seeding for the eight-team RMAC Tournament.
 
Down 18-10 with 1:44 left in the first quarter, MSU Denver went on a 13-0 run that included five points from Lewis, four from Schroeder and four from Losalini Katia to take a 23-18 lead.
 
Black Hills State rallied to take a 26-25 advantage into halftime.
 
"We started out in a zone and they hit a few 3s," Haave said. "And then we went to our switching man-to-man and we were able to get a little momentum. They didn't have the open 3s against us against the man, and our transition defense against the 3 was outstanding."
 
After hitting 5 of 17 from 3-point range in the first half, Black Hills State made just 1 of 11 after the break.
 
Galloway scored the first four points of the second half to put MSU Denver ahead to stay. The lead eventually grew to 54-40 at the end of the third quarter, and Black Hills State got no closer than six points the rest of the way.