BILLINGS, Mont. — The Metro State women’s basketball team opened the season with a 49-46 win at Montana State-Billings on Saturday.
Tanya Haave became just the second coach in school history to win her first game at Metro State. Darryl Smith won his first game in 1990 against Colorado Mines.
Haave was a standout at Evergreen High School and started for three years at the University of Tennessee, helping the Lady Vols to three Final Four appearances. She was the coach at the University of San Francisco before being named Metro’s seventh coach.
Cassondra Bratton led the Roadrunners with 10 points and had eight rebounds. Metro State dominated the boards, outrebounding the Yellow Jackets 43-23. Kristin Valencia had a game-high nine rebounds and Tawny Drexler had eight.
Valencia, Drexler and Jasmine Cervantes each scored eight points. Valencia also had four steals.
The Roadrunners shot 40.8 percent from the floor, despite going 0-for-8 from 3-point range. They also committed 24 turnovers.
Metro State built an 11-point lead with less than six minutes left in the first half (24-13) as Alyssa Benson hit two jumpers. MSUB closed the first half on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 28-26 at halftime.
Again, Metro State built a double-digit lead and led by 10 points with less than five minutes to play. A layup by Beata Bak cut the lead to two at 48-46 with 34 seconds left, but Bratton hit 1-of-2 free throws with eight seconds left. The Roadrunners prevented the Yellow Jackets from getting a shot off on their final possession.
Area men
Colorado State 82, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 51
FORT COLLINS — Andy Ogide went 8-for-10 from the floor and scored 19 points in the Rams’ season-opener.
Will Bell added 14 points and Travis Franklin 12 for the Rams, who outrebounded the Golden Lions 41-29, forced 20 turnovers and held a 28-11 advantage in bench points.
Boise St. 78, Western St. 52
BOISE, Idaho — La’Shard Anderson scored 20 points and had a team-high six assists for the Broncos, who dominated all facets of the game in giving head coach Leon Rice his first victory at Boise State.
Wyoming 92, Keane 58
LARAMIE — Djibril Thiam scored 18 points, and Amath M’Baye and Adam Muojeke each scored 14 for the Cowboys, who sprinted to a 44-26 halftime lead and were never threatened.
Denver vs. Oregon
EUGENE, Ore. — Late game.
Top 25 men
No. 25 San Diego St. 81, Long Beach St. 65
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Kawhi Leonard had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and D.J. Gay scored 20 points to the lead the Aztecs to a victory in their first game ever as a ranked team.
