DENVER – The MSU Denver women's basketball team, forced to play short-handed once again, finally came up just short as the Roadrunners ran out of gas down the stretch and saw their five-game winning streak come to an end in a 54-49 loss to Westminster.
 
The Roadrunners led by 15 points with 5:49 left in the third quarter, but MSU Denver was outscored 30-8 the rest of the way. MSU Denver played without senior point guard Jaiden Galloway, the RMAC leader with nearly 36 minutes per game.
 
"We made a couple of mistakes and they answered with 3s, and then we started doubting ourselves just a little bit," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "Then we felt like we couldn't score. It was just an unfortunate game, unfortunate timing."
 
The Roadrunners, who are still 8-3 over their last 11 games, dropped to 12-11 overall and 10-7 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Westminster improved to 14-10 and 12-6.
 
"They've got really good senior leadership," Haave said. "And we just didn't make enough plays offensively."
 
Kendra Parra led MSU Denver with 18 points and shared the team lead with seven rebounds. Tosjanae Bonds added 10 points and three steals.
 
But as a team the Roadrunners shot just 28.6 percent from the field, including 22.6 percent in the second half (7 of 31) and 14.3 percent in the fourth quarter (2 of 14).
 
MSU Denver led for 79.9 percent of the game. The Roadrunners lost the first meeting with Westminster in December after leading for more than 80 percent of the game.
 
"We were up 15 and we probably thought we had them," Parra said. "They stay steady. They have a lot of patience and experience."
 
MSU Denver will try to bounce back Saturday in a 3:30 p.m. game against Colorado Mesa.
 
"We just have to come out firing and take a cue from Westminster and stay steady," Parra said.