GOLDEN, Colo. – A furious second-quarter rally brought the MSU Denver women's basketball team within two points of nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines at halftime Saturday night, but the Roadrunners' third-quarter woes resurfaced, and they eventually dropped a 79-62 decision.
 
Colorado School of Mines, ranked No. 11 (coaches) and No. 18 (sports information directors) in Division II, improved to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, while MSU Denver dropped to 4-7 and 2-3. The Roadrunners' seven losses this season have come to teams that are a combined 54-15 – six of those teams are 48-9.
 
Trailing 26-12 after the first quarter and 28-14 early in the second, MSU Denver scored the next nine points to get back into the game. Then the Roadrunners scored the final six points of the period to pull within 40-38 at the break after outscoring the Orediggers 26-14 in the second quarter.
 
But Mines scored the first eight points of the second half and led by at least eight points the rest of the way. The Orediggers outscored MSU Denver 25-9 in the third quarter.
 
"We started off slow, but once we got used to their pressure defense, we were only down two at halftime and I was really happy with that," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "Then we had a flat third quarter again – we couldn't score and they picked up their defensive pressure, and we've got to be able to handle that better.
 
"That was a more experienced team teaching us a lot of lessons that will help us get better."
 
MSU Denver was able to find open shots when it was able to withstand Mines' half-court trapping defense, but too often committed turnovers first – the Roadrunners had 23, which Mines converted into 34 points.
 
The Roadrunners shot 38.6 percent from the field, but also missed a handful of layups throughout the game.
 
"We missed a lot of uncontested layups that could've helped us keep the game within 10 points, and then you have a chance," Haave said. "We talked all week about how we would be able to get good shots if we handled their initial pressure. But their length is troublesome ,and it affected us a lot. But it's good for us to experience that, and we'll get better because of it."
 
Despite tough shooting luck from the field, Kendra Parra earned 15 trips to the free throw line (making 12) and scored 17 points to lead MSU Denver. The RMAC's leading scorer at 18.6 points per game coming into the night, Parra also plucked seven rebounds and had three assists.
 
Brianna Bailey scored all 12 of her points during MSU Denver's second-quarter push, and Mikylah Espinosa had 10 points and three steals. Miza Gilberto had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
MSU Denver is off until a Dec. 31 game at Chadron State.
 
"I'm really happy with the way we competed and battled against a team that was better than us tonight," Haave said. "I'm encouraged with some of the things I saw from our young players.
 
"We can build off this. It would've been nice to be a little closer, but we fought hard. We just need to keep working on cleaning up the little stuff."