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Metro still alive with wins
Roadrunners pull within 2 games of Regis in the RMAC
By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

The women’s basketball team took home two conference wins in Nebraska and vaulted to No. 2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference East Division standings with a 79-57 crushing of Chadron State Feb. 15 and a close 69-65 victory over Nebraska-Kearney on Feb. 17 at Kearney’s Health and Sports Center.

Regis, which is ranked 22nd in the USA Today/ESPN women’s basketball poll, stands on top of the RMAC East Division.

“We played very well,” Metro head coach Dave Murphy said of his team’s two road wins. “We hit our free throws and we made the right plays down the stretch.”

The story of Metro’s win at Chadron State was the free-throw disparity. The Roadrunners attempted 29 shots from the stripe while the Eagles had only six. Both teams shot well from the line, as Metro connected on 23, while Chadron State made five.

The Eagles, who lead the conference in personal fouls (542), continued their roughhousing, committing 23 fouls that led to 23 points for the ’Runners. Unfortunately for Chadron, Metro is second in the RMAC in free throw percentage at .731.

Metro’s defense held Chadron State’s offense to only 31.4 percent shooting from the field while the ’Runners shot a solid 49.1 percent. Metro forward Cassondra Bratton’s 14 points and six rebounds led the Roadrunners, while guard Megan Johnson scored 11 points and was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Two days later, Metro used a late 21-4 run to overcome an 11-point deficit to defeat Nebraska-Kearney 69-65, avenging an earlier loss to the Lopers. The Roadrunners’ last defeat came at the hands of Kearney on Feb. 2 at the Auraria Events Center.

Guard Ashley Mickens recorded her third double-double on the season by scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Johnson scored 14 points in the game, all in the second half. The 5-foot-6-inch guard came through in the end by hitting four consecutive free throws to secure the victory.

Coach Murphy said that his team has been working hard on their free throws and have done a lot of running in practice when they miss them. The work has shown as Metro hit 50 freebies in the pair of weekend wins and shot an amazing .855 percent from the line.

Kearney guard Jade Meads led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down six rebounds. Her teammate forward Jonni Mildenberger, who torched the ’Runners with 16 points in the last meeting with Metro, added 13 points, with seven coming from the free throw line.

Metro’s free throw shooting was once again a key factor in the win, as they shot 81.8 percent, connecting on 27-of-33 attempts.

The two conference wins improve the Roadrunners’ record to 13-4 in the RMAC and 20-4 overall.

They also find themselves back in the national rankings at 23rd in Division II. Metro finishes their regular season with a road trip to Golden on Feb. 24, where they will take on the Colorado School of Mines.