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Late turnover ruins rally by Roadrunners

By Eric Lansing
lansing@mscd.edu

Metro and Regis’ women’s basketball teams wrote another chapter in their long and thrilling rivalry Feb. 8 after their matchup went down to the final minutes. This time, the Rangers outlasted the Roadrunners 78-74 at Regis Fieldhouse.

Metro blasted Regis in their contest on Jan. 26 when guard Stephanie Sauter scored 21 of 24 points in the first half to lead the ’Runners to a 67- 49 win at the Auraria Events Center.

This time, it was the Rangers who came out firing, hitting nine of their first 11 shots to build a 27-10 lead in the first seven minues of the game. Regis hit seven 3-pointers in the early run boosted by forward Stevi Seitz who hit three of her four long-range shots.

Frustration could be seen from Metro head coach Linda Lappe as she vehemently called a timeout.

“Well a lot of that was our defense,” Lappe said. “(Regis) did a good job of hitting their three’s … Regis did a nice job, they were well prepared, and they came out with a game plan and executed it very well.”

Regis built the lead to 20 points at the 5:23 mark when Metro forward Cassondra Bratton, who isn’t known for her 3-point shot, missed a trey, and Regis guard Courtney Ault grabbed the rebound, targeted an open Seitz running toward the basket and lofted a perfect pass for an easy layup by the 5-foot-10-inch forward.

It looked like Regis was going to mirror the January matchup when Metro jumped out to a huge lead in the first half and cruised to the victory, but the Roadrunners charged back to cut the lead in half before intermission with a 12-2 run.

“You put yourself down by 20 points, it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Metro guard Ashley Mickens said. “The first 10 minutes, we came out really lax. I don’t know what it was, maybe because we beat them by 20 in the first game. It took probably a good 10 minutes or so to realize that we gotta play defense.”

Metro eventually made it a game when they found their shooting stroke from beyond the arc. Metro guard Paige Powers hit a string of 3- pointers to cut the Rangers’ lead to seven. Sauter drained two more from long range including her second that tied the ballgame at 58 apiece with 8:50 left on the clock.

Both teams traded baskets during the next seven minutes until the 1:41 mark when Regis forward Lauren Luebbe hit a 3-pointer to give her team a five-point lead at 73-68.

The ’Runners’ leading scorer, Ashley Mickens, had a rough game up to this point having scored zero points in the first half. But her tenacious style of play gave Metro a chance to compete down the stretch.

Mickens drove to the basket and drew a foul from Luebbe that put Metro’s guard to the free-throw line. She hit one-of-two from the line, cutting the deficit to four. After the second free throw, Mickens stole the ball on the inbounds pass and then was fouled and sent back to the charity stripe.

Again she made one-of-two from the line and on Regis’ next possession, she came up with another steal. She took the ball down the court and fed forward Carolyn Denee, for an open jumper from the baseline to make the score 73-72 with 48 seconds remaining in the game.

Regis guard Breanne Burley, who had an outstanding game, scoring 17 points and adding 10 assists, scored a key basket with 33 seconds left that put her team up by three.

On Metro’s next possession, Powers looked to drive from the top of the key, but the senior guard lost the ball, and Regis guard Jenny Vieira grabbed it and passed it to Burley who was fouled to stop the clock. Burley drained both free throws, and the Rangers went on to win the game, sending the ’Runners to their first two-game losing streak since December.

Metro’s defense has given up point totals of 87 and 78 in those two losses, and Lappe knows wins won’t come if this trend continues.

“We’re looking for a better defensive effort,” she said. “Teams have been able to score on us, and we’re not going to outscore teams. When we hold teams to 50 (points) or under, we win. When teams score 70 or 80, it’s not to our advantage.”

The next night, the Roadrunners regained their defensive gameplan and held the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs to 25 percent shooting in a 57-43 win in Colorado Springs.

The 1-1 weekend puts the ’Runners’ record at 15-8 overall with a 11-4 record in the RMAC. The win also clinches a spot in the conference playoffs. Metro now prepares for a rematch against Nebraska-Kearney Feb. 15 at the Auraria Event Center.