DURANGO, Colo. – The MSU Denver women's basketball team did what it needed to do Friday night in a 67-51 victory at Fort Lewis.
The Roadrunners didn't get the help they needed from other Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, though, and will have to settle for being the sixth seed in the league tournament, which starts Tuesday.
MSU Denver scored the first 16 points of the game and kept Fort Lewis at bay the rest of the way to improve to 15-12 overall and 13-8 in the RMAC. The quick start came despite travel complications that led to the team staying in Albuquerque, N.M., on Thursday night and driving into Durango on Friday morning.
"I'm really pleased with the effort," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "We took care of business and controlled what we could control."
The Roadrunners will finish sixth in the league, though, after Adams State upset nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines and Westminster withstood an upset bid by Western Colorado by winning in overtime. Adams State now is now 15-6 in league play, while Westminster finished league play at 15-7.
MSU Denver wraps up the regular season with a Saturday night game at Adams State, a game that means nothing for the league tournament, but is still meaningful.
"It's important to keep the momentum going," Haave said. "We want to win the season series against them. It's a tough place to play, and you want your freshmen to be able to experience what a playoff run is like. You always want to finish strong."
Jaiden Galloway knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the early burst by the Roadrunners.
Kendra Parra continued her incredible season, scoring 17 points while making 6 of 8 from the field.
Brooklynn Jones made 4 of 7 from 3-point range while scoring 12 points, and Galloway had nine points, three assists and four steals.
The Roadrunners made 10 of 23 from 3-point range for 43.5 percent. The 10 3s matched a season high for the team.
MSU Denver's first-round tournament game Tuesday will be at Black Hills State, which is locked into the third seed. The Roadrunners lost to the Yellow Jackets at home in January before winning in Spearfish, S.D., earlier this month.
"If that's who we've got to play, then that's who we'll play," Haave said.
