DENVER – Having sampled life in the Lone Star Conference to open the season, the MSU Denver women's basketball team will take a taste of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference over Thanksgiving weekend.
The Roadrunners travel to Ellensburg, Wash., for games Friday at 3 p.m. against Seattle Pacific and Saturday at 5 p.m. against host Central Washington.
"They're both very strong teams," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "We'll have our hands full, and that will be good for us. Clearly we want to win, but being in adverse situations helps us. These games help get us ready for our conference games."
Seattle Pacific, picked to finish eighth in the 10-team GNAC, is 2-3 thus far, but one of the defeats was an overtime setback against Azusa Pacific (Calif.), ranked No. 5 nationally in NCAA Division II.
Central Washington is 3-1, which doesn't include an exhibition win over Division I Seattle. The Wildcats own a 16-point win over West Texas A&M – picked to finish third in the Lone Star – and lost only to Westminster, picked to finish fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
MSU Denver, picked third in the RMAC, is 2-1 while playing Lone Star teams picked to place in the bottom half of that league. The loss was in triple overtime at Texas Woman's.
"We're defending really well," Haave said. "And we rebounded really well against Texas Woman's. We're getting better at playing together. While we're integrating everybody and getting in a flow offensively, we're going to have to defend."
Cohesion was key in 2020-21 as the Roadrunners, challenged by a lack of depth, came together to go 12-6 overall, including a terrific 11-4 run through conference play.
With nearly every key piece returning, MSU Denver has also added depth this season, leading to higher expectations.
"We've got new, significant pieces and we're getting used to playing together and getting into a groove," Haave said.
Junior college transfer
Mya Jones has moved into the starting lineup at forward and is averaging 9.0 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 52.2 percent from the field. Another forward seeing significant minutes is
Jaela Richardson, limited to just three games last season. She's averaging 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds.
"Jaela has been here for four years (she also sat out the 2018-19 season), but she didn't play during that time last year where we were getting used to each other and making that run," Haave said. "We're looking for that consistent perimeter presence on offense. Tos (
Tosjanae Bonds) gives us that defensively. And Alex (Carlton) is running the team very well."
The Roadrunners last played this past Thursday, and had to grind out a 50-44 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville. It was MSU Denver's lowest point total in a victory since Feb. 7, 2014, when the Roadrunners won at Colorado School of Mines 46-44.
"We're going to have to win ugly once in a while, and we have to be OK with that," Haave said.
