DENVER – MSU Denver's improved play continued Saturday, but the Roadrunners came up short in a bid for a fourth consecutive victory.
 
The Roadrunners kept close with Black Hills State the entire first half, fell behind by 17 late in the third quarter, then railed within four in the fourth before finally falling 71-60.
 
"Some execution, some turnovers, that's the difference between 11-5 and 5-11," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said, noting the teams' Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference records.
 
Black Hills State led 56-39 before MSU Denver mounted its comeback.
 
Mikylah Espinosa, Brooklynn Jones and Ashlyn Yow sparked the run with 3-pointers, then Brianna Sealy scored on a conventional three-point play, Espinosa hit another 3 and Tosjanae Bonds converted another conventional three-point play. The 18-5 run made it 61-57 with 3:46 to play.
 
Black Hills State countered with a 3, but Bonds answered with one of her own, making it 64-60 with 2:33 left.
 
"We spent so much energy getting back there that getting over the top was going to be hard," Haave said.
 
The Roadrunners were unable to score again.
 
"We did a really good job in the fourth quarter, but we need to start it off like that coming out of halftime," Bonds said. "We can't wait until the fourth quarter to pick it up. We did a good job coming back, but we had to start earlier."
 
Espinosa led MSU Denver with 19 points, four assists and five steals. Bonds scored 13 and Yow had 10.
 
MSU Denver dropped to 6-15 overall and 5-11 in the RMAC. But the Roadrunners are 3-1 in February, a month in which they are 43-15 over the last eight seasons.
 
The Roadrunners may have an outside chance of reaching the RMAC Tournament should they be nearly perfect over the last six games of the regular season, but if not their improved play has them confident.
 
"We did a really good job competing this week," Bonds said. "Now we have the rest of our games to compete and try to ruin everyone else's season."