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Women work wonders in blowout wins
Metro's 56-point win over Cowgirls gives bench time to play
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Photo by Jeremy Billis • jbillis@mscd.edu Metro’s Paige Powers looks for an open teammate while being tightly covered by Western New Mexico’s Crystal Smith. Metro’s defense held the Mustangs to only 46 points in an RMAC win.

How do you score 99 points when your leading scorer is out with a knee injury and your best player is still recovering from shoulder surgery? You call on your teammates and the women’s basketball team used every one of them in a 56-point blowout over New Mexico Highlands Jan. 12 at the Auraria Events Center.

“I thought the key tonight was we were really focused, and we got off to a quick start,” Murphy said. “It was a great effort by our kids. We have worked hard on rebounding, we have worked hard on shooting, and we are trying to be unselfish.”

“We need to be willing to give up self for the team,” Murphy adds.

Cossandra Bratton, Metro’s scoring leader with 12.2 points per game, was out with a knee injury, and Paige Powers, the team’s only All-RMAC player, hasn’t entirely recovered from her surgery.

However, 12 of the 13 players that suited up for the Roadrunners scored at least one point and grabbed at least one rebound each. Four of those players scored in double figures, including freshman Rae Bean, who scored 10 points and pulled down five rebounds.

“One of her teammates said that she had to work a lot harder in practice against the older (teammates) than she did in this game,” Murphy said. “That was evident as she became more confident after she got more touches. It was a really nice booster for her, as she has to battle just to save face in practice. She gets beat up a lot, but she is definitely not the same player she was back in August.”

Bean has played sparingly this season, never scoring more than four points. But she took advantage of her time on the floor and made it known that Metro has great players on the bench.

“It’s unbelievable,” Bean said about being able to contribute to her team. “We really tried to send a message to the league saying we’re here, we’re not going anywhere, and we are going to take it to you every time we play.”

The blowout began with a 20-4 Metro run in the first 10 minutes of the game. During the run Rianna Harris lit up the stat sheet with three rebounds, four points, three assists, a block and a steal. Harris, who started because of Bratton’s injury, finished the contest with a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Metro continued the onslaught, outscoring the Cowgirls 22-4 over the next six minutes to take a 42-8 lead. Murphy then began bringing in the bench players to give them some significant minutes.

Players such as Bean, Stephanie Sauter, Carolyn Dennee, Paula Bruzewski and Dana Berge all got into the game and did not disappoint, keeping a 30-plus point lead in the first half. In the second half those same players, having played less than minute per game earlier in the season, came out blazing and helped extend the lead to 40 points in the first three minutes and then to 50 at the 16:23 mark.

The bench outscored the entire New Mexico Highlands team 44-43. Megan Johnson went 3-of-7 from downtown, scoring nine points and adding five assists. Sauter finished the game with seven points and five rebounds, while Denee had four points, four rebounds and three blocks.

Despite all the offensive fireworks in the win, Murphy was most impressed with his team’s defense, which outrebounded the Cowgirls 56-38 and forced 32 turnovers that led to 33 Roadrunner points. Metro also recorded 25 offensive boards they converted into 28 points.
The following night, Metro had to face a Western New Mexico team that had defeated two RMAC opponents in a row including the much-heralded Regis team. The Mustangs snuffed the Rangers 78-73 Jan. 6 in Lakewood.

But the Roadrunners relied on a great performance from Ashley Mickens to spark the Metro offense in a 62-46 victory Jan. 13 at the Auraria Events Center.

Mickens carried the team early by scoring the game’s first four points and bringing a ton of electricity that didn’t show up in the stat sheet.

“It feels really good to sweep the weekend, especially since we lost to Western (State),” Mickens said. “It was good to bounce back as we pulled out the win, but I definitely think we could do a lot better. A win is a win, but we could have a better performace.”

With the two wins, Metro’s overall record improves to 12-3 and a 5-2 in the RMAC. The ’Runners will play host to Colorado School of Mines Jan. 19 at the Auraria Events Center.