GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – MSU Denver had an excellent shooting night and was even better on the defensive end and rolled to a surprisingly easy 76-62 victory Friday night at Colorado Mesa.
 
MSU Denver improved to 8-4 overall and 4-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while Mesa – ranked No. 22 in NCAA Division II in the D2SIDA poll – dropped to 10-2 and 5-2. Both of Mesa's losses have come against MSU Denver.
 
"It was a huge road win for us," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "It was just a total team win. Everybody contributed."
 
MSU Denver outscored Mesa 26-14 in the second quarter to sail to a 41-24 halftime lead and built several 22-point leads – the last at 60-38 – in the third quarter. Mesa got no closer than 15 points in the fourth quarter until scoring with 10 seconds left.
 
"I felt like we were in a good spot going into the game, but you just don't know and you just don't know how the other team is going to play," Haave said. "We knew everybody was going to have to contribute, and they did. They don't care about who is starting and who is playing and once you get to that point, it can be very good. Everybody is becoming so selfless."
 
The Roadrunners shot 48.1 percent from the field (25 of 52), including 8 of 16 for 50 percent from 3-point range, while holding Mesa to 35.4 percent shooting (23 of 65), including 4 of 24 from 3 (16.7 percent).
 
Mesa had been shooting 40.8 percent as a team while holding its opponents to 34.6 percent.
 
MSU Denver broke a four-game losing streak in games played at Mesa, with its first win in Grand Junction since Dec. 30, 2017 and defeated a ranked team on the road for the first time since beating No. 11 Colorado  School of Mines 57-54 on Feb. 7, 2014.
 
It was Colorado Mesa's largest home loss in 10 seasons under coach Taylor Wagner.
 
Allie Navarette led a balanced Roadrunner attack with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Morgan Griego added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists and Kendra Parra had 11 points and three assists.
 
Three other MSU Denver players scored either eight or night points and 10 players scored in all. Mya Jones pulled down a team-best eight rebounds, and Jaela Richardson had eight points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.