DENVER – Junior forward Whitney Jacob headlined a strong presence in the Regis University women's basketball team's 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play opener with a career-high 31 points, but in the end, the Rangers suffered a tough 79-74 loss to Metropolitan State University of Denver at Auraria Event Center on Friday.
 
How It Happened: Regis was within striking distance of the Roadrunners during the final minute of play. However, MSU Denver senior forward Bree Wellington's trip to the free-throw line with MSUD up, 74-68, proved to be the difference maker. Wellington sank both free throws, giving the Roadrunners a 76-68 lead with just 44 seconds left in the game.
 
RU junior forward Grace O'Neill contributed the Rangers' last points of the game with her trey with only 24 seconds to go in the fourth, making the score, 78-74, but this was followed by sophomore guard/forward Morgan Lewis's free throw, which brought the game to its final score just 5 seconds later.
 
Regis held an advantage for a sizable portion of the first quarter and started the game with a 4-0 lead, kicked off by Jacob's jumper just 45 seconds in and ended with junior guard Emma Sterkel's pair of free throws at the 7:33 mark of the first. In fact, RU held the Roadrunners scoreless for the opening 2:35.
 
A 9-0 MSU Denver run came later, however, which tied the game to start, 16-16, on the first of two free throws from sophomore guard Jaiden Galloway with only 59 seconds to go in the first. The run was capped with Lewis's 3-pointer at the 8:29 mark of the second to make the score, 24-16.
 
Moments after a jumper from junior guard Mariah Schroeder at the 2:05 mark gave MSUD a 12-point, 38-26 lead, the Rangers closed out the half on an 8-0 run. This run commenced at the 1:04 mark in the second on a Jacob trey, 40-32, and concluded on freshman guard Kali Murrell's jumper only 4 seconds before the intermission, 40-37.
 
Three lead changes occurred in the third quarter, which played in Regis's favor. RU finally retook the lead, 55-54, on a Jacob trey with 22 seconds to go in the second half's opening quarter.
 
Unfortunately, the Roadrunners reclaimed the lead just 56 seconds into the last quarter on Galloway's 3-pointer, 57-55. Following Jacob's jumper which tied the game, 59-59, at the 8:06 mark of the fourth, a Lewis layup 28 seconds later gave MSU Denver a 61-59 advantage which they did not surrender after that as it kicked off a 9-0 run. The run stopped at the 4:22 mark with Schroeder's fastbreak layup and put RU at the wrong end of a 68-59 score.
 
MSUD grew the lead back to as high as 11, 72-61, on Schroeder's jumper with 2:55 to go in the game.
 
Game Notes: Jacob scored a career-high 31 points to pace the Rangers, and she also accumulated a career-high 15 rebounds and a block. Jacob played the entire 40 minutes in her double-double performance.
 
O'Neill and Sterkel each scored 11 points. O'Neill contributed nine rebounds, one assist and one steal, while Sterkel had two rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
Murrell and junior guard Tashika Burrell were each credited with a share of the team-high three assists. Murrell also had 13 points, two rebounds and one steal. Burrell additionally scored a point and grabbed four rebounds.
 
Regis was outshot in all three categories. RU made 25 of 68 (36.8 percent) from the paint, 11 of 28 (39.3 percent) from the arc, and 13 of 18 (72.2 percent) at the free-throw line. In comparison, the Roadrunners went 30 for 70 (42.9 percent), 7 for 15 (46.7 percent) and 12 for 16 (75.0 percent) from those respective areas.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: RU drops to a 2-5 record overall and an 0-1 record in RMAC play. The Rangers will go out of state to close out the weekend at Chadron State (2-8, 0-1 RMAC). Tipoff at Chicoine Center will take place at 5:30 p.m.