GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa University women's basketball team led for over 37 minutes in the game but eventually fell to the visiting MSU Denver Roadrunners 69-65 on Saturday evening in Brownson Arena.
The Mavericks raced out to a 22-14 lead after the first quarter and had a 44-33 halftime lead. However, MSU Denver owned the second half with a 15-12 third quarter advantage and a decisive 21-9 fourth quarter.
A big discrepancy in the game came at the free-throw line where the Roadrunners shot 15 more free throws than the Mavericks and made 72.5 percent (19-of-25) compared to the Mavericks 60 percent (6-for-10).
Colorado Mesa shot 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the field compared to the 40.4 percent (23-for-57) by the Roadrunners.
Erin Reichle finished with a team-high 17 points and tied for the team-high with six assists. She was 7-for-19 from the field and made three three-pointers. She also hauled in five rebounds.
Karina Brandon finished with 12 points, six assists and a game-high eight rebounds.
Jaylyn Duran had 14 points to round out the Mavericks in double figures.
MSU Denver's J'Nae Squires-Horton led all scorers with 18 points.
The Mavericks fell to 10-3 overall on the season and 4-3 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action while MSU Denver improved to 9-4 on the year and 5-2 in the RMAC.
Colorado Mesa will hit the road to start the New Year with games at Chadron State and Regis next weekend.
