DENVER – Since the calendar turned to 2023, the MSU Denver women's basketball team has gone 12-5.
Three of the losses came to the other three teams that the Roadrunners have joined in the RMAC Tournament semifinals, crashing the party for the second straight season as the tournament's No. 6 seed, but considering the Roadrunners split with Adams State and were in position to win against both Mines and Regis, a hot team feels like it has as good a chance as any.
"We're confident, but I don't think overconfident," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "We're in a really good spot. We just had a good practice (Thursday). At this point in the year, you're just kind of tweaking a few things."
MSU Denver plays Friday's second semifinal game, scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at Regis Field House, against second-seeded Colorado School of Mines. Top-seeded host Regis squares off with fourth-seeded Adams State in the 5 p.m. opener.
The championship game at Regis is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are available through the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
While Colorado School of Mines seems to be in solid shape when it comes to advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament next weekend, nothing is certain for the other three teams.
Regis is ranked only eighth in the South Central Region rankings, which are used to determine the at-large field for the eight-team regional after the tournament championships are decided in the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Lone Star conferences.
Adams State is ranked only 10
th. MSU Denver is not in the top 10, but probably isn't more than a couple of slots lower.
In other words, MSU Denver isn't the only team with its season on the line. And the Roadrunners have last year's big-game experience, when they won the same tournament as a six seed, behind them.
The Roadrunners were in a similar position last year, entering the RMAC Tournament ranked ninth in the region. MSU Denver won the tournament to get the automatic bid and may have – or may not have – reached the NCAAs after its strong run.
MSU Denver posted an impressive win in Tuesday's first round, knocking off regional No. 4 Black Hills State 56-50.
"I think our history helps us," Haave said. "We responded well to it Tuesday, when we knew it was all-or-nothing, do-or-die. We're comfortable in this position."
While All-RMAC first team selection
Kendra Parra has been a steady force all season, with a full resume of astounding feats, the Roadrunners got a much-needed boost Tuesday from two players who could be impactful this weekend.
Guard
Tosjanae Bonds seemed to return to the form she's been trying to find all year, with a season-high 21 points to go with five steals, which matched a season best.
And forward
Mya Jones, playing just her fifth game of the season had career bests of 14 points and four assists along with five rebounds.
Considering Bonds wasn't full strength until recently and Jones wasn't playing at all, in some ways the Roadrunners are a new and improved version of their season-long selves.
"We're full strength," Haave said. "We're a different team. We're deeper, and certainly deeper in the post with Mya, and it's nice to have that luxury. We haven't had our full team all season."
