DENVER – Senior Night for the MSU Denver women's basketball team should be filled with emotion and passion.
The ceremony, too.
Not only will the Roadrunners be sending off their two-player senior class of
Bree Wellington and
Leya Harvey in Saturday's 5 p.m. game against CSU-Pueblo, the team is also hoping to end the season on a three-game winning streak that would most likely – barring upsets – put them back in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament.
The weekend starts with a 5:30 p.m. home game Friday against New Mexico Highlands.
"It's bittersweet," Wellington said. "All my family is coming. But mostly I'm just getting ready to win. Senior Night is special, but we just have to win."
Wellington is a four-year player in the program who has career totals of 611 points and 377 rebounds while ranking seventh in school history with 61 blocked shots. This season she is the team leader in scoring (9.8 points per game), shoots a team-best 46.9 percent from the field and is third with 4.6 rebounds per game.
Harvey played 2 ½ seasons at NCAA Division I Utah Valley, transferred to MSU Denver and sat out the second semester last year, and averages 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds.
"They've had to lead a very young group," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "And Leya did it after coming from a different program. Both of them have done a good job trying to lead a very young group.
"They have different personalities, different styles, and I think they've blended well together."
Wellington also stars for the MSU Denver outdoor track & field program as both a jumper and sprinter.
"She's been loyal to the program and she has improved every year," Haave said. "She's had some great moments, even dating back to her sophomore year in the NCAA Tournament. She's been as consistent as anybody for us offensively this year. She's been a good leader."
Wellington plans to pursue a master's degree in mental health counseling while exploring her eligibility in indoor track & field, which she hasn't been able to use because of basketball.
"MSU Denver is in my heart," Wellington said. "It has given me so much, so many opportunities, so many people I've met. It's opened up a lot of doors."
Harvey moved into the starting lineup in late December has given the Roadrunners a solid low-post option.
"Leya came from a difficult situation and she's been very loyal to the program," Haave said. "She has a great work ethic, a great attitude. She's really contributed some maturity for our program."
Harvey, who plans to return to her native Utah after graduation to begin an internship after graduating with a degree in business management, said her time at MSU Denver has been rewarding.
"We struggled with wins and losses a little bit, but where we are now, we know how to play with each other," she said. "And that's been the most fun and exciting part, learning my teammates, making memories, and the coaching staff has been awesome. The experience here has been everything I wanted."
The Roadrunners (11-14 overall, 10-9 RMAC) would like to make things a bit memorable with a strong finish to the regular season.
Though they are in ninth place and are essentially two games behind both Dixie State and Fort Lewis because of the tiebreaker in head-to-head matchups, the Roadrunners have a realistic chance to pull into a three-way tie for sixth with both Dixie State and Black Hills State in the final three games.
Dixie State would win that tiebreaker scenario because of head-to-head wins over both MSU Denver and Black Hills State, and the Roadrunners would get the seventh seed because they swept their two-game series with Black Hills State.
That scenario assumes that Fort Lewis would go no better than 1-2 down the stretch, with losses to both Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado, who are first and tied for second, respectively, in the RMAC.
Should Fort Lewis break through and go 2-1, that scenario would result in a four-way tie for sixth at 13-9 in which MSU Denver would get the eighth seed over Black Hills State, due to its head-to-head wins.
There are, of course, multiple other possibilities.
"We wanted to finish 7-0, but we've split the first four," Haave said. "For us to have a chance, we're going to have to win all three, and they know it, and we have to rely on some other things happening. But those things are feasible. Right now though, the only part of our destiny that is in our hands is to win the rest of our games."
Including next weekend's lone game Friday at Chadron State, MSU Denver will need to go 3-0 against teams that are a combined 12-64, including 8-49 in the RMAC.
"The opportunity, we see it's there and it's achievable," Harvey said. "And I think we have a little bit more fire because of the losses in some games we should have won. We were pretty much a brand-new team early in the year, and now we've gotten to the point that we know each other and know how to play together. These last three games are do-or-die and that makes me even more excited."
New Mexico Highlands is 1-23 overall and 0-19 in the RMAC, while CSU-Pueblo is 6-18 and 5-14. The Roadrunners beat both teams on the road Jan. 17 and 18, holding off the ThuderWolves 57-51 before running past Highlands 77-43.
"There's always hope," Wellington said. "We just have to come in here and work hard and do what we can control."
Said Haave: "Huge games. These games are about us being able to put back-to-back games together. And then, with the third game (at Chadron State), we have to win all three. We don't want to get too sentimental. We want to honor our seniors, but know that these are important games, too. Usually on Senior Night you end up playing well anyway."
