DENVER – The Metropolitan State University of Denver women's basketball team battled with Colorado School of Mines on Saturday evening but eventually fell to the Orediggers by a 69-58 final score at the Auraria Event Center.

MSU Denver (10-13, 9-8 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) played tough defense for the better part of three quarters, but Mines (16-6, 13-4 RMAC) got hot from 3-point land in the second half.
MSU Denver head coach Tanya Haave was obviously disappointed with the result but expressed pride in her team's resilience.

"We never quit," Haave said after the game.

One Roadrunner that literally never quit was Jaiden Galloway, who played all 40 minutes of the game and scored a career-high 14 points while dishing out six assists.

"My adrenaline just takes over and I don't really get tired," Galloway said.

As for her team's performance, Galloway believes the Roadrunners just need to learn to stay strong defensively throughout the game.

"We need to learn to dig in in the fourth quarter," she said.

The first half was similar to many opening halves for MSU Denver this year – back and forth with a close score at halftime. Mines led after two quarters, 28-26, but the Roadrunners had the momentum going into the third after scoring five straight points in the final 32 seconds of the first half.

That momentum developed into an early third-quarter lead for the Roadrunners, who took a 35-34 advantage on a Bree Wellington jumper with 6:20 remaining in the period.

Mines, however, made four 3-pointers before the whistle blew for the end of the third. Three of those came from star guard Denali Pinto, who ended up with a game-high 24 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point land.

The Orediggers led 50-40 after three, but the Roadrunners still had fight left in them. With just under three minutes remaining in the contest, Morgan Lewis grabbed a defensive rebound and followed that with two more offensive rebounds before converting on a bucket to put the Roadrunners within eight at 63-55.

The Roadrunners cut Mines' advantage to five with 44 seconds remaining after a 3-pointer from Jaela Richardson, making the score 63-58. The feel of a possible comeback was in the air, but the Roadrunners struggled to buy a bucket for the remainder of the game as Mines walked away with a 69-58 victory after six late free throws.

"We've got to be able to make shots," said Haave. "To step up, be aggressive and make shots."

Haave is seeing that aggressiveness she desires from her point guard, however.

"She's really finding her groove, being aggressive, defending and just running our team," Haave said of Galloway. "She's just been great."

While Galloway led the team in scoring on Saturday, Jaela Richardson added 13 points, five boards and three blocks for MSU Denver, which had seven blocks as a team. Leya Harvey added 11 points and seven rebounds.

The Roadrunners actually shot better than Mines from the field, 39.7% to 37.7%, but the difference was from long range. MSU Denver shot 31.3% (5 of 16) from deep, while Mines was 11 of 21 for 52.4%.

MSU Denver currently sits ninth in the RMAC standings heading into next weekend's road trip to South Dakota. The top eight teams make the RMAC Tournament.

A visit to Spearfish, S.D., is next for the Roadrunners, who will play Black Hills State there on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MST. The Roadrunners will play South Dakota Mines at 4 p.m. in Rapid City, S.D., the following day.