DENVER – It wasn't the Senior Night you plan to have.
MSU Denver made clutch plays, particularly by the six honored in a pre-game ceremony, in overcoming a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit, and forced overtime, but eventually the Roadrunners were upset 82-78 by UCCS on Saturday in women's college basketball.
"Clearly, on Senior Night, you hurt for your seniors," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "It's disappointing."
The Roadrunners trailed 61-52 with 4:55 left, but responded with a terrific 12-0 scoring run with four points each coming from seniors
Allie Navarette,
Alex Carlton and
Morgan Griego.
The burst gave MSU Denver a 64-61 lead with 53 seconds left in regulation, but – believe it or not – things were just starting to get really interesting.
UCCS' Ellie Moore scored on a drive and was fouled with 41.5 seconds left. She missed the free throw, but the Mountain Lions got the rebound and Moore again scored while being fouled on a driving layup. She made this free throw, and suddenly UCCS led 66-64 with 28 seconds to go.
MSU Denver missed an inside shot and UCCS got the rebound, and the Mountain Lions appeared on the verge of clinching the game when the Roadrunners were forced to foul with four seconds left. But UCCS was whistled for an unsportsmanlike technical foul and then missed both of its free throws.
Carlton then calmly hit both technical free throws to tie the game 66-66. Carlton was 8 for 8 at the line for the game while scoring 15 points.
"Alex is a senior point guard," Haave said. "We need people stepping up like that."
MSU Denver was unable to score just before the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
In the extra session, the Roadrunners immediately fell behind by four but bounced back to take the lead on
Jaela Richardson's three-point play for a 74-72 advantage with 2:45 left.
The game was tied at 74, 76 and 78 (MSU Denver never again led) before UCCS went ahead for good at 80-78 with 22.3 seconds left and the Roadrunners missed on the other end. UCCS hit two clinching free throws with 4.1 seconds to go.
It was the second loss in three games for the Roadrunners (18-7 overall, 14-6 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) threatening their status as the fourth-ranked team in the official Division II South Central Region rankings.
"We're down to the point of the year where we don't have much room for error," Haave said. "We needed to win and we didn't get the job done. What we're talking about with our team is having accountability, and we've got to be a little tougher. I believe that team was more desperate than we were, although we were desperate at the end.
"We have to change our mindset, because we're playing teams that are battling. Everyone is battling for their playoff lives right now, and now we are, too."
MSU Denver had a seven-point second-quarter lead, but UCCS (12-14, 10-10) closed the half with a 13-4 run to lead 27-25.
"We were too complacent," Haave said. "We had too many turnovers at halftime. Very careless turnovers. And we just weren't hungry enough. I was extremely upset at halftime because we were up seven and we should have kept going, but you let a team think, 'Hey we're ahead, we're in it,' and then they are in it.
"Then things started happening and it kind of spiraled."
Navarette finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Richardson had 12 points and six boards. Griego contributed 10 points, six rebounds, and career bests of four steals and four blocked shots.
All in all, it was a tough loss to take.
"I wish we had come out with the win, but I think in the long run what it will teach us is that we still have room to grow," Haave said. "We've got to attack. No one is going to give us anything.
"I would have expected us to approach the game differently. And I don't know why we didn't. Because we had a sense of urgency going into the game. It's time to take it seriously. It's showtime. It's go time."
