Chadron State College women’s basketball went on the road Friday evening for its season finale in Denver, falling 71-59 to host Metropolitan State University of Denver, who clinched the No. 3 seed in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament.

“We had good effort tonight,” said CSC Head Women’s Basketball Coach Janet Raymer. “It’s hard not being able to play for another game at the end of the season, but we fought and worked despite having nothing to look ahead to, after tonight. We got tired tonight, however.”

Specifically the coach praised junior forward McKenna McClintic, who she said not only led the team with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, but also provided defensive pressure all evening.

The Roadrunners outshot the Eagles in the first half, 40.6 to 34.5. However CSC trailed just 28-26 at the intermission.

It was the 56.7 percent shot by MSU Denver in the second half, including 10-of-17 in the fourth quarter, that propelled the home team to its fourth straight winning season in league play at 16-12 overall and 15-7 in the RMAC.

MSU Denver’s Jaelynn Smith was awarded a rebound in the closing seconds of the game to complete a triple double with 18 points, 10 boards, and 14 assists. The 14 helpers tied for fourth all-time in conference records, and were two shy of the top single-game mark. She led all players in all three categories for the night.

Chadron State, which was led in rebounding by senior forward Rebecca Stevenson’s seven boards in 15 minutes, finished its season at 4-24 (3-19 RMAC).

“When you have one player here who’s been here for three years,” said Raymer of McClintic, “and the rest are one or two year players, you have a hump to get over. We have some fire for next year, though, and we know where we’re going.”