DENVER – The MSU Denver women's basketball team was cruising right along in its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener.
 
But then the Roadrunners hit a second-half road block and suffered a 62-48 homecourt loss to Westminster on Saturday.
 
"When they went to the zone, we were too complacent," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "You're not going to win many games scoring 19 points in the second half."
 
MSU Denver took a 33-22 lead early in the second half after making its first two shots from the field, but before long Westminster had gone exclusively to a zone defense.
 
The Roadrunners' successful inside game was sealed off, and their outside attack didn't click.
 
MSU Denver shot 4 for 28 from the field the rest of the way, including 1 for 12 from 3-point range.
 
"We need to make better plays," forward Morgan Griego said. "When they switch defenses, we can't let that dictate what we do. We got a little stagnant."
 
Westminster outscored the Roadrunners 40-15 over the final 19 minutes of the game.
 
"You've got to be able to knock down some 3s against a zone," Haave said. "That caught up with us. People have been playing man against us and we haven't been hitting many 3s. So going to the zone was a good call on their part."
 
Maggie Justinak made both of MSU Denver's 3s and finished with a team-high 10 points. Griego scored nine, Tosjanae Bonds had eight and Allie Navarette had seven points and a team-best seven rebounds.
 
"We talk about tempo on the offensive end, whether it's against zone or man," Haave said. "We've got to improve our tempo. We've got to play with better pace."
 
It was more than just wayward shooting that was costly.
 
"We didn't finish well inside," Haave said. "We weren't physical enough. That's a team that's giving up 71 points a game and we scored 48 on them. We've got to coach better and we've got to play better."
 
MSU Denver gets another shot Sunday, with a difficult 1 p.m. home test against Colorado Mesa, ranked No. 13 in one of the national polls.
 
"We're obviously disappointed and frustrated," Griego said. "We all know we didn't play our best. It's important for us to stay together and try to take it out on Mesa.  It's a quick turnaround and we have to be ready for it."