SALT LAKE CITY – The MSU Denver women's basketball team, led by another high-scoring game from sophomore guard Mikylah Espinosa, improved to 4-1 in February with a 66-60 victory Friday at Westminster.
 
"On the road, any win is a good win," MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "Westminster is a team that hangs around, and no matter what its record is and what it looks like on paper, it's a tough matchup for us.
 
"You know they were thinking this was a game they could win at home, and the fact that we were able to battle through some stuff and win is great."
 
Espinosa scored 32 points on efficient 12 of 20 shooting from the field, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range.
 
Espinosa sandwiched two 3-pointers around one by Tosjanae Bonds in a quick 9-0 burst that gave MSU Denver a 53-40 lead with 7:54 left in the game.
 
"Those 3s were huge," Haave said.
 
Westminster whittled the margin to 55-50, but Bonds scored on a putback with 1:48 to play.
 
When the Griffins cut the gap to 57-53 with a 3, Espinosa responded with a drive for a three-point play to make it 60-53 with 1:03 left.
 
Bonds and Espinosa each made a pair of free throws and, after a Westminster turnover, Brianna Sealy scored on a fastbreak layup to make it 66-58 with 15 seconds to go.
 
The 30-point outing was Espinosa's third in her last seven games – she's averaging 22.3 points per game during that stretch and is now at 15.4 per game for the season.
 
She's the first MSU Denver player to have three 30-point games in a career – let alone seven games – since at least 2003.
 
"I liked what she did, and it's something we've been talking about, and it's that sometimes she starts games thinking that she has to score, score, score," Haave said. "But we've talked about getting shots for others, running the offense and letting the game come to her. She did that, and then she was more aggressive in the second half.
 
"Out of 20 shots, there was one shot that I would have advised her not to take, and one out of 20 is really good."
 
Bonds added nine points and a career-high 12 rebounds, and Sealy scored eight.
 
"The rebounds by Tosj were huge," Haave said. "And everyone else filled in, hit some shots when we needed them, and got rebounds and we made free throws (9 for 9)."
 
MSU Denver improved to 7-15 overall and 6-11 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play and kept its hopes for a top-eight finish and a spot in the league tournament alive.
 
The Roadrunners are now 44-15 (74.6 percent) in the month of February over the past eight seasons, and overall in Haave's 14 seasons as head coach are 75-28 in February (72.8 percent).
 
MSU Denver will seek to keep the momentum rolling Saturday in a tough 5:30 p.m. matchup at Colorado Mesa.
 
"It will be a tough task, especially the way they are playing and the way they are playing at home," Haave said. "But we'll see what we can do."