DENVER – It doesn't have to be a work of art. As long as it's a win.
 
MSU Denver never quite got full control, but never lost control either, and was able to grind out a 50-44 victory Thursday night over Texas A&M-Kingsville in its home opener for women's basketball.
 
"There was definitely some weathering the storm going on," forward Allie Navarette said. "Coach likes to say that a lot. We were defending our home court, and this was our home opener. The fight in our team and our togetherness is really what helped us finish with the win."
 
Navarette and her inside-the-paint running mates – Mya Jones and Jaela Richardson – split time at the two post positions and combined for 32 points and 13 rebounds as the Roadrunners improved to 2-1 for the season.
 
 "As much as you would like to have easy wins, to have to grind one out like that this early, it's actually good," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We're going to have games where we're on the road and we're going to have to grind it out."
 
While struggling from the perimeter (4 of 20 from 3-point range), the Roadrunners did connect on 14 of 23 inside the arc (60.9 percent).
 
That's where Navarette, Jones and Richardson did their work, going a combined 11 of 19 on two-point attempts.
 
"We all work really well together," Jones said. "I really like playing with Allie and Jaela. All of us put up points and we're there for each other."
 
Said Navarette: "That's something we were working on in our scout all week, knowing that we would have a good advantage inside. And when the inevitable double comes, we have our kick-outs to shooters. Our guards did a really good job finding us and hitting us when we needed to be hit."
 
Kendra Parra stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, and Alex Carlton had five assists and just one turnover.
 
The Roadrunners were looking to cut down on the 38 fouls and 33 turnovers they had in a triple-overtime loss to Texas Woman's on Saturday, and while this game was 15 minutes shorter and the pace more moderate – they made seemed to make progress with 16 turnovers and 20 fouls. Navarette and Jones each committed five second-half fouls.
 
"Coach has been on us – we don't want to set school records for fouls and turnovers," Navarette said. "That's been a big thing."
 
Said Haave: "We made some progress, but we still had some unnecessary turnovers, some really careless turnovers at key time. And we had some fouls that weren't very smart. If we eliminate those, that's 5-6 points right there where we're allowing teams to stay in the game. We'll fix that as we get into the season."
 
MSU Denver never trailed by more than one point in the second half, but also never led by more than the final six-point margin. The Roadrunners are 6-3 in games decided by six points or less dating back to the start of last season.
 
"We were just working together, having each other's back and being there for each other," Jones said. "We were keeping the energy up, knowing that we were going to get it and we were going to get it together."