DENVER – It's a good thing RMAC women's basketball games are played on Friday and Saturday nights.
It gets MSU Denver's
Mariah Schroeder out of the house.
"I'm a major nerd," Schroeder said, laughing. "I don't have a lot of free time, that's for sure. But I really love what I do. I love basketball and that keeps me busy. And I love the subjects I'm taking. I'm so interested in biochemistry and organic chemistry.
"To me, it's not a bad thing to sit at home on a Friday night and do homework. I actually enjoy it. I guess I'm in the right field."
Schroeder, who is pursuing a career as a doctor, was named earlier this week to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's All-Academic basketball team for the second straight season. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average in biology.
"I'm not sure what type of doctor I want to be yet, but I do want to be a doctor," Schroeder said. "If not a doctor, I've talked to my biochem professor about getting into biochem research.
"I've tutored organic chem and it really makes sense to me and I'm so interested in that. So if being a doctor doesn't work, I would definitely go the research route."
By the way, Schroeder has also completed her minor in chemistry.
"I'm sad," she said. "I miss my chemistry classes."
But Schroeder is at least involved in some chemistry on the court.
MSU Denver's women's basketball team is continuing to come together and is hoping to finish strong over the final seven games of the regular season.
That stretch starts this weekend as the Roadrunners (9-12 overall, 8-7 RMAC) continue their push for a bid in the RMAC Tournament with games Friday against UCCS (6-15, 5-10) and Saturday against Colorado School of Mines (14-6, 11-4). Both games at the Auraria Event Center are set for 4:30 p.m. tips. The Friday game is MSU Denver's Play4Kay Game, supporting the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, with fans encouraged to wear pink.
Schroeder, a 5-foot-7 junior in her first season as a starter, has been a critical part of the Roadrunners' success. She is second on the team in scoring (8.5 points per game) and second in steals (1.1) while adding 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.3 blocked shots. She shoots 38.7 percent from the field and has been terrific at the free throw line at 82.5 percent.
"She is the embodiment of what a student-athlete should be," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "Hard worker. Great attitude. Coachable. Conscientious in the classroom. Ambitious. Caring. Selfless. All those things. I could go on for a long time."
Schroeder, who focused on gymnastics at a very young age, didn't decide to give basketball a try until fourth grade. And it was with a little reluctance.
"We didn't know I had sports-induced asthma, so I hated running and I remember telling my gym coach that I would never play basketball – because running killed me," Schroeder said. "I'd been doing gymnastics since I was really young and that's what I wanted to do. In fourth grade, my parents said that if I went out they would be my coaches, so I said, 'Fine, I'll do it.'
"I never looked back from there."
Before long, Schroeder had become a four-year starter who had attracted the attention of the MSU Denver coaching staff.
"As soon as I got here, I knew this is where I wanted to go," she said of her recruiting trip. "My parents were hesitant at first because they didn't know how they'd be able to see me play. And it was hard at first because I hadn't been away from my parents or family for more than a week before. I wanted to go back home.
"But now that I've been here for three years, this feels more like home than back home does."
There were some tough times on the court, too. Haave said Schroeder was the subject of her attention plenty of times at practice.
"For the first couple of years I was on her more than anybody," Haave said. "I saw some potential in her, but she came in a little bit behind in being from a small town, and learning a team offense and a team defense took some time. But the light bulb started to turn on about this time last year. She got more playing time and she hasn't looked back since.
"A lot of kids, with me on the them all the time, maybe couldn't have handled it. But she handled it well."
It's reassuring to know that a future doctor has the courage and toughness to overcome such adversity.
Schroeder said she became interested in becoming a doctor because of her relationship with her grandmother, who has since passed away because of cancer.
"My grandma was a nurse, so she always had her nursing book, and if we were ever sick she would open it up and figure out what was wrong with us and made us feel better," Schroeder said. "She was always an inspiration for me."
Schroeder will have to pull herself away from her homework this weekend – her four-class schedule this semester is neurobiology and physics as well as sociology and psychology (the latter two are required before she takes the Medical College Admission Test) – but she's got a passion for hoops, too.
Schroeder, who scored a career-best 16 points in last Saturday's win over Black Hills State, has great jumping ability and an excellent pull-jumper that is part of her dynamic mid-range game, and her inner gymnast shows no fear when driving to the basket to draw contact and fouls.
She may be a nerd, but she's also a terrific athlete.
Haave cited to speed, agility and quickness testing that was done by an outside firm for the team this past fall as evidence.
"Her times, in terms of quick-jump and change of direction, they told us, 'she's a stud,'" Haave said. "She had NBA-level times. And she's done some things athletically this year where you just say, 'Wow.'"
More wows will be needed as the Roadrunners attempt to reach their season-ending goals.
"We've dropped a couple of games we definitely shouldn't have," Schroeder said. "We've had big leads and messed them up.
"But we've talked about what our goal is for the rest of this season and we all agree that our goal is to go 7-0. That'll give us a good spot in the RMAC Tournament and give us a chance to do well. I think it's an achievable goal. We can beat anybody, we just have to be consistent."
