DENVER – Next up for the MSU Denver women's basketball team: three games in five days against the top three teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
"It'll be a good test for our young team," MSU Denver coach
Tanya Haave said. "At this point, every game is a playoff game for us to keep the season going and to keep growing. I'm pleased with how we competed last weekend, and now we're focusing on things like not turning the ball over, making the right play and making good decisions."
The Roadrunners play host to UCCS (10-6 overall, 7-3 RMAC) on Friday at 5 p.m., and Regis (12-3, 7-2) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. for Alumni Weekend, before traveling for a 5:30 p.m. game Tuesday at Colorado School of Mines (14-1, 9-0), which is ranked seventh and sixth in the Division II national polls.
And while MSU Denver may be just 3-10 overall and 2-6 in the RMAC, the Roadrunners are less than 75 seconds away from being 5-3 in league play.
"The bottom fell out for us against Chadron State at home (on Jan. 6), which was surprising, but they've been resilient and receptive to coaching," Haave said. "They're staying in there. They understand that we're young and growing, and that's the message we're giving them."
MSU Denver had one of its near-misses Saturday at CSU Pueblo, building a 13-point lead with less than seven minutes to play before the ThunderWolves rallied and took their first lead of the second half with just over a minute to play in a 73-69 decision.
Two other excruciating losses came at South Dakota Mines on Dec. 9 and at home against Colorado School of Mines on Dec. 13 – in both of those games the opponent made the tying and winning free throws in one-point games in the final four seconds.
By the way, that's the same Colorado School of Mines team that the Roadrunners will wrap up this difficult stretch against on Tuesday.
"We're not going to sneak up on them after that," Haave said. "I'm sure they'll be ready – although they had plenty of time to adjust to us in the first game, and we think we should have won that game. They'll be tougher at home and I'm sure they'll want to show us that the first time was an off night for them."
But the Roadrunners aren't overlooking the first two games of the weekend, of course.
UCCS, with a new coaching staff that has employed a full-court pressing system, is off to a strong start.
"They get in your face with a lot of pressure, flying around and things like that," Haave said. "We'll have to take care of the basketball and play at our tempo, not theirs. They want to get you into a track meet."
Regis, last year's RMAC champions, still features returning RMAC Player of the Year Erin Fry. Fry's numbers are down, but her impact isn't.
"They have others who can score, and people are keying on her more, but she's making plays when they need it," Haave said.
Meanwhile, Haave is encouraged by plays being made by Roadrunners coming off the bench.
Both sophomore guard
Ashlyn Yow and freshman forward
Laci Roffle scored in double figures in both games last weekend, and they provided the offensive spark during a critical second-half stretch in a Friday win at New Mexico Highlands.
"If we can keep getting that kind of production from the bench it will really help us," Haave said.
Roffle who had scored nine points in 30 minutes all season, scored 23 points in 34 minutes last weekend.
"She's a confident, aggressive player, and a competitor," Haave said. "She's still figuring some things out defensively like all freshmen, but she's going to be really good on both ends of the floor."
