DENVER – The long journey through a difficult non-conference portion of the schedule has come to an end for the MSU Denver women's basketball team.
And it ended on a high note, with a come-from-behind win over Seattle Pacific.
"When we were down by seven points in the middle of the fourth quarter, it would have been easy to pack it in, but we didn't do that," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "And that was really telling. We kept playing one possession at a time, and kept getting stops."
Now 1-4 overall, the Roadrunners are back at square one, with Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play set to begin.
MSU Denver plays host to Westminster (2-2) at 5 p.m. Friday before squaring off against 6-1 Colorado Mesa at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Both games are at the Auraria Event Center.
"It's a brand-new season now," Haave said. "Looking back, it's been challenging, but we've learned some important lessons, some huge lessons. We've seen what it's supposed to look like. And now it's a brand-new year."
Still a very young – and new – team, MSU Denver will experience an elevated level of play throughout the 22-game RMAC marathon.
"It's a little more intense once you get to conference play," Haave said. "And you have to continue to get better as you go into every game. You have to earn every victory, and if you're going to get beat, then the other team has to earn it."
Some of the Roadrunners' most experienced Division II-level players are sophomores, and that group is led by guard
Mikylah Espinosa and forward
Brianna Sealy.
They're adapting well.
Espinosa is averaging 11.2 points per game, while Sealy averages 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 59.5 percent from the field.
Unable to break 40 points against nationally-ranked teams to start the season, the Roadrunners played two more nationally-ranked teams and scored 45 and 59, then hit 64 in the win over Seattle Pacific.
"Our offense flowed better against Seattle Pacific than it has been, and we want to continue building off that this weekend," Haave said.
Westminster has played just four games, going 2-2, while playing only two teams – the Griffins have lost twice to Arkansas-Fort Smith and won a pair of relatively close games with Alaska-Fairbanks. Westminster has won seven of the last eight games of the series with MSU Denver, though five of those have been decided by five points or less.
"It's a newer team, and they have a really good scorer," Haave said. "They've got some firepower. We have to play our game on both ends of the floor."
MSU Denver has won four of its last five meetings against Colorado Mesa, which has been the RMAC's best regular-season team over the past 15 years.
Mesa had a bit of a down season last year at 13-15 overall and 12-10 in the league. But the Mavericks, receiving votes in the coaches' poll and ranked No. 23 by the D2SIDA, are back.
"They're really good," Haave said. "The good news is that they play at (Colorado School of) Mines the night before. But then if they don't win that they'll have even more motivation, and we have beaten them (four of five), so there's that, too."
