DENVER – The MSU Denver women's basketball team keeps knocking on the door.
It seems inevitable that it will ultimately break through.
Tuesday night was nearly the time against first-place Colorado School of Mines – ranked in the national top 10 as recently as last week – but, despite a couple of excellent opportunities in the closing seconds, the Roadrunners came up just short in a 63-62 defeat.
"We're seeing the growth," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "We're getting better. Now it's time to take the lessons we've learned and transfer them onto the floor."
Trailing by four with 1:08 left, MSU Denver found itself with several chances to win.
A 3-pointer by
Tosjanae Bonds cut the deficit to 61-60 with 51 seconds left.
A steal by
Kendra Parra got the Roadrunners the ball back, but an unfortunate turnover gave the ball back to Mines.
The Orediggers made two free throws with 13 seconds to go to push the lead back to three, and then MSU Denver's
Brianna Sealy was fouled on a layup attempt with five seconds left. After a video review, officials ruled the foul was intentional, and the Roadrunners were able to have Parra shoot the free throws – she made them both – and MSU Denver got the ball back.
The Roadrunners ran a play for Parra, who began driving baseline but – despite heavy contact in which both Parra and the defender went to the floor – it was ruled a turnover as the ball went out of bounds.
Mines called timeout to advance the ball to halfcourt with 3.6 seconds left, but then Mines' inbounds pass sailed out of bounds, giving MSU Denver one final chance. Freshman
Mikylah Espinosa took the inbounds pass and cut through traffic while dribbling to the free throw line, but her runner at the buzzer bounced off the rim and out.
"It was a lot of emotion, but we stayed pretty calm for the most part," Parra said. "We had plays drawn up. We knew how many timeouts we had. We just had to play good defense and get rebounds."
MSU Denver shot better than Mines from the field (40 percent to 35.7), from 3-point range (54.5 to 26.9) and the free throw line (80.0 to 64.0) but still came up just short.
"I'm really pleased overall," Haave said. "We missed five to 10 layups. Make those and we probably win that game against the most experienced team in the league and the team that's in first place. So I really hurt for our kids."
The near miss against Mines followed Saturday's three-point loss at Regis. Mines and Regis are currently first and second, respectively, in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
"Obviously we don't take a loss very well," Parra said. "But we fought the whole game. We just needed to finish at the end."
Parra, the RMAC's leading scorer at 18.4 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half while being guarded by RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Ashley Steffeck, but then erupted for 18 points in the second half.
"She was playing good defense on me in the first half," Parra said. "So I was just trying to do other things – get rebounds and assists – and then let the game come to me in the second half."
Parra was true to her intent – she also had nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
"People are going to key on her, and she showed a lot of patience the first half," Haave said. "She didn't score, and she didn't let it affect her."
Bonds rediscovered her 3-point stroke, knocking down all three of her long-range tries, while scoring a season-high 15 points. Espinosa added 10 points, and
Miza Gilberto had six points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
MSU Denver is 7-10 overall and 5-6 in the RMAC, but better days seem in its future.
"We battled, we battled and we battled," Haave said. "You never want to lose, but we battled."
