DENVER, Colo. – Jessika Kienitz scored 12 of her career-high 20 points in the second half and forced the deciding turnover with 5.7 seconds to play as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs earned a 75-70 victory against MSU Denver tonight in the Auraria Event Center. The Mountain Lions (23-5 / 18-4 RMAC) will enter the RMAC Shootout on a four-game winning streak and as the No. 2 seed.

UCCS put together a 13-2 run during a three-minute period midway through the first half to take a 22-15 advantage. Patterson hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions during the run and the Mountain Lions held a 33-27 halftime advantage, with Patterson leading the way with 11 points.

MSU Denver assembled an 11-2 rally midway through the second half and led the Mountain Lions 49-48 with 9:46 to play. The Roadrunners extended the lead to 54-52 and the Mountain Lions were zero-of-six from the three-point line in the second half before back-to-back three-pointers from Kienitz put UCCS back ahead 58-54 with 6:30 remaining. The pair of treys was the start of a 12-4 run that pushed the Mountain Lion lead to 64-58 with 4:14 to play.

The Mountain Lions built it to an eight-point lead at 70-62 with a minute to play after a pair of free throws from Brittney Hernandez. MSU Denver collected two offensive rebounds on the next possession and cut it down to a five-point game with a three-pointer. A UCCS turnover on the inbounds play gave the ball back to the Roadrunners, who got to the free throw line and made both attempts to cut the lead down to 70-67.

Gabby Ramirez was fouled and made one of her two free throws with 26.4 seconds to play to make it a two-possession lead at 71-67. The Roadrunners hit their second three-pointer in a 23-second span to make it a one-point game with 15.9 seconds to play, and called their final timeout.

Ramirez was fouled again, but made both free throws to make it a three-point lead again at 73-70 with 14.3 seconds left. MSU Denver brought the ball down the court, and Kienitz used persistent pressure to force the turnover in front of the Roadrunner bench. Hernandez was fouled and made both free throws to secure the win with 3.5 seconds to play.

Kienitz surpassed her previous career-high by three points and was five-of-eight from the field in the second half. Hernandez scored 17 points with a seven-of-seven performance at the free throw line, and Abby Kirchoff scored 13 points. Tori Fisher led both teams with 11 rebounds, her most since the 2013-14 season-opener.

UCCS will host No. 7 seed Regis on Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m., in the quarterfinal round of the RMAC Shootout. The top remaining seed after Tuesday's quarterfinal games will host the RMAC semifinals on March 6 and the RMAC championship game on March 7.