DENVER – With everything that Allie Navarette has done in her career, one this has been missing.
 
"I've never been to the playoffs, so this is huge for me," Navarette said. "I'm so excited. I'm excited and looking forward to the future."
 
Navarette, closing in on 1,800 career points after playing her first three seasons at Hawaii-Hilo, and the rest of the MSU Denver women's basketball team will be playing at Colorado Mesa on Tuesday in a 5:30 p.m. game in the first round of the RMAC Tournament.
 
"We're still playing," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We get to play in March, and that's great."
 
Despite winning five straight games to finish the regular season, despite winning 11 of the last 13, and despite finishing tied for third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 11-4 (12-5 overall), the Roadrunners were awarded only a No. 5 seed as a result of the league's point system.
 
No matter.
 
"We're a top-four team winning percentage-wise," Haave said. "A lot of these games that weren't played weren't in our control. We'll go wherever we have to go and do whatever it takes."
 
MSU Denver has played fourth-seed Colorado Mesa twice this season, losing 91-57 on Dec. 5 when the Mavericks were ranked No. 24 in NCAA Division II before bouncing back for a 71-66 win at home on Jan. 15.
 
The Mavericks played short-handed in the January meeting, and MSU Denver can relate. The Roadrunners have been without multiple starters for much of their late-season hot streak.
 
"This team believes in itself, and I think that's more than half the battle," Haave said. "Keep playing. We're playing well together. We're playing hard and we're playing smart."
 
While Navarette leads the way at 21.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, she gets plenty of support from Morgan Lewis (11.4 points, team-high 8.9 rebounds), Maggie Justinak (10.4 points, 43.1 percent from 3-point range) and RMAC Freshman of the Year candidate Kendra Parra (9.3 points, 6.3 rebounds).
 
Steady point guard Alex Carlton runs the show, freshman guard Tosjanae Bonds has become a defensive force, and transfer forward Peyton Taylor has come on strong after joining the team at the semester break.
 
It's going to be a tall task to win at Mesa (13-7, 13-7), but this MSU Denver team has continued to surprise all season.
 
"It's a magical time of year," Lewis said. "Everybody loves March Madness. Everybody is getting an opportunity when we didn't think we were going to even have a season. Now we have an opportunity, and we want to take advantage of it. Play like we've been playing, because we've really stepped up. I think we're peaking at the right time."