DENVER – Get ready for a steady stream of MSU Denver women's basketball games.
The Roadrunners are set to embark on the next phase of their multi-game road trip, an NBA-like four-games-in-five-nights sojourn to CSU-Pueblo, Adams State, UCCS and New Mexico Highlands.
It all starts with Tuesday's 5 p.m. game against CSU-Pueblo, arguably the best team MSU Denver will play this week. The ThunderWolves are 12-3 overall and 8-1 for second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference ,while the other three teams are a combined 12-26 overall and 5-19 in the RMAC.
MSU Denver's road trip, which started Friday night at Colorado Mesa, is front-loaded with top teams. But Mesa, ranked No. 22 in Division II by D2SIDA last week, fell victim to the Roadrunners 76-62.
MSU Denver (8-4, 4-3), which earned its first road win over a ranked team since 2014, hopes to continue that momentum.
"Our team was very excited, but what I don't want is to have a letdown from such a huge win," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "We struggled at Mesa for so long (MSU Denver had lost four straight games there), and it was such a focus to beat such a good team like that on its home floor.
"That fact that we are playing Pueblo ,and that Pueblo is really, really good, will help in that regard."
CSU-Pueblo, 3-13 last season and 8-19 the year before, served notice that it would be a force to be reckoned with when it opened the season with a six-point loss to 10
th-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce that preceded a 64-56 point win over top-ranked defending national champion Lubbock Christian (Texas). Lubbock Christian had won 39 straight games dating to January, 2019.
In addition to star guard JaNaiya Davis, the ThunderWolves have added Division I transfers such as 6-foot-1 forward Alisha Davis and guards Ro Dominguez and Tomia Johnson. Johnson is the daughter of head coach Tommie Johnson.
"You figured they would be good from the beginning," Haave said. "We knew the talent and the players they had, so we're not surprised in the least.
"They're a very, very strong team. They defend well, shoot well from the perimeter and have a good inside game. They're a complete team. They can win low-scoring games or high-scoring games. They are very, very good."
MSU Denver, picked to finish third in the RMAC's preseason coaches poll, has shown signs of rounding into form on its three-game winning streak, which dates back to Dec. 18.
The only team to defeat Colorado Mesa this season (MSU Denver has done it twice), the Roadrunners have made 16 of 35 from 3-point range (45.7 percent) while making a season-best eight in each of the last two games. That complements an already strong inside game led by
Allie Navarette (13.8 points, 8.1 rebounds per game),
Morgan Griego (10.3, 5.5),
Jaela Richardson (9.8, 6.6, 1.5 blocked shots) and
Mya Jones (7.6, 4.5).
Kendra Parra has made 9 of her last 15 3s for 60 percent over the last four games, while sharpshooter Bri Bailey continues to be lethal (9 of 16 for the season, 13 of 27 for her career) in limited playing time.
"Shooting 50 percent from 3 (the Roadrunners were 8 of 16 against Mesa) helps a lot," Haave said. "For a while we weren't shooting well, and you figured we would see a lot of zone. Now you don't know. We're finding the open player and hitting the open shot.
"Kendra is shooting it really well, and Bri keeps it simple, stays within herself, knows what she does well and tries to do that."
MSU Denver continues zig-zagging its way through the American West with a 5:30 p.m game Wednesday at Adams State (5-8, 3-5), then travels to UCCS (4-10, 2-6) for a 5:30 p.m. game Friday, and then reverses course and heads to New Mexico Highlands (3-11, 0-8) for a 5 p.m. game Saturday.
With a series of winnable road games followed by a long stretch of home games, MSU Denver has an opportunity to get itself on a roll in the coming weeks.
"Now that we have some consistency in the schedule and we know what's going on, now we can possibly start talking about that," Haave said.
