DENVER – There are six games left in the regular season, and the MSU Denver women's basketball team is still pushing for a chance to reach the RMAC Tournament.
 
"We probably need to run the table," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We don't have much room for error. But we're not out of it. Is it a long shot? Yes. But I'm glad we're still talking about it."
 
The Roadrunners (6-15 overall, 5-11 RMAC) play Friday at 5 p.m. at Westminster (3-20, 1-16) and Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Colorado Mesa (18-5, 12-4).
 
Those teams came to Denver the first weekend of December and the Roadrunners defeated Westminster 52-47 before falling to Mesa 63-43. But much has changed since then.
 
"I look at those games, and from the first time we played them to now you can see the growth in how we're moving, how we've come together," Haave said.
"It's a big difference. We had a long way to go at the beginning."
 
MSU Denver has had its roughest season in Haave's 14 years as head coach – the loss to Mesa was the first of two five-game losing streaks in a stretch where the Roadrunners lost 10 of 11.
 
Still, there were three losses in those games that were decided in the final 10 seconds, and another in the final 1:15. Had even a couple of those games gone MSU Denver's way, its postseason position wouldn't be as precarious.
 
Now MSU Denver has also won three of its last four games, including impressive road wins at Adams State and Fort Lewis two weeks ago.
 
"Our group has been pretty resilient," Haave said. "Maybe they haven't always been resilient in the moment, but in the big picture, for the season as a whole, they've been resilient – and I'm impressed with that. They've probably been more resilient than me sometimes."
 
A 6-0 finish would put MSU Denver 11-11 in league play and could perhaps give it a fighting chance to finish in the top eight and advance to tournament play. A 5-1 run, and 10-12 RMAC record, would likely require an upset or two around the league as well as some fortuitous tiebreaking results.
 
MSU Denver has shown that it can play well on the road, where it is 3-5 as opposed to a 3-9 mark in home games. Three of its near-miss losses have also been on the road.
 
"Anything on the road is going to be tough," Haave said. "But if we approach it with the right mindset, starting with Westminster … let's start there and see where it goes."
 
Obviously a win at last-place Westminster is critical.
 
"We need to be ready," Haave said. "Because they're looking at our record, and they're at home, and because of that they're thinking this is a game they can win.
 
"Mesa is playing pretty well, and they play well at home. But it's February and you never know."