DENVER, Colo. — Any concern over how the No. 23 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team would respond from its double-overtime loss the night before was dismissed quickly Saturday afternoon.

The Mavericks scored the first 11 points of the game on the way to a 63-43 runaway victory against MSU Denver at the Auraria Event Center.

Colorado Mesa led 34-17 at the half, shutting out the Roadrunners for more than six minutes in the first quarter and nearly five minutes to open the second, building a 27-9 lead.

Back-to-back 3-pointers and a pair of free throws by Mikylah Espinosa, who led Metro with 14 points, cut CMU's lead to 27-17 with 2:23 remaining in the first half. Josee Steadman responded with back-to-back 3s of her own for the Mavericks to push the lead back out.

It was more of the same in the third quarter, with CMU's defense pitching a shutout for almost five minutes. When Amanda Byrnes hit a driving layup for Metro's first points of the second half at the 5:08 mark, the Mavericks were up 45-19.

A couple of minutes later, though, Olivia Reed picked up her fourth foul of the game and watched from the bench until the final 2½ minutes of the game. Reed finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, playing only 16 minutes, but the Mavs' quick start, solid defense and balanced attack overwhelmed MSU Denver, which shot only 29.2% from the field.

The Mavericks shot nearly 40%, including 53% in the third quarter, and hit eight 3-pointers to the Roadrunners' three. Despite being outrebounded 40-36, CMU took advantage of 15 MSU Denver turnovers, scoring 20 points, and turned the ball over only seven times.

With Steadman hitting four 3-pointers, she led the Mavericks with 17 points, tying her career high set earlier this season against Simon Fraser.

Kylie Kravig finished with nine points, five assists and only one turnover in 31 minutes, with Mason Rowland chipping in nine points and five rebounds off the bench. Sophie Hadad scored seven points and had five assists and Laura Gutierrez added another six points.

Leading from the jump, CMU's biggest lead was 28 points, 45-17 on a layup by Reed at the 6:10 mark of the third quarter. The closest the Roadrunners got after the opening quarter was 10 points late in the second.

The Mavericks (7-2, 1-1 RMAC) are back at home Dec. 8-9 facing CU-Colorado Springs and defending RMAC champion Regis at Brownson Arena. Both games tip off at 5:30 p.m.