GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will return home for games this weekend after picking up their third straight win last Saturday against Western Colorado. The Mavericks defeated the Mountaineers 53-41 and picked up their first RMAC win of the season. This weekend the Mavericks will face UCCS and Colorado School of Mines on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both games will tip-off at 5:30 pm in Brownson Arena.
This will be the last time fans can watch the Mavericks at home until after the New Year. The next time the Mavericks will play in Brownson Arena is Jan 4 and 5 against South Dakota School of Mines and Black Hills State, respectively.
In the Mavericks first five games they are leading their opponents in most categories including blocks, steals, points off of turnovers, assists, rebounds, and points per game. The Mavericks are nearly doubling their opponents in points off turnovers at 20.4 points while teams who face the Mavericks only score 11.8 points off of turnovers.
RMAC Standings
The Mavericks were picked seventh in the Preseason Coaches' Poll, but after the preseason and first games of the 2018-2019 RMAC season the Mavericks have the second best record at 4-1 behind Black Hills State who is a perfect 5-0. The Mavericks along with seven other schools picked up a win last Saturday to start the RMAC season 1-0.
After suffering a season high 18 turnovers against Western State the Mavericks fell to second place in assists to turn over ratio behind Fort Lewis. Sydni Brandon only turned the ball over twice against Western and dished out two assists. After her performance on Saturday she still leads the nation in assists to turn over ratio at 6.0. The next best is a guard from West Texas A&M who performs at a 4.73 ratio. Brandon is also leading the Mavericks in steals (10) and rebounds (34).
Duran reaching for 1,000
Pueblo, Colo. native Jaylyn Duran leads the Mavericks in scoring and is averaging 22.2 points per game which is second best in the RMAC behind Colorado Christians Jordan Baer who is averaging 22.7. Entering this weekend Duran sits 115 points away from becoming a 1,000 point scorer. If Duran continues to score at the rate she has been she could reach this mark in five more games.
D2SIDA Media Regional Poll
The Mavericks entered this week's D2SIDA Media Regional Poll at No. 9 for the south central region. The only other RMAC school ahead of Colorado Mesa is Black Hills State who is placed at No. 3.
About UCCS
The Mountain Lions are 1-4 to start their 2018-19 season. In their opening game of the RMAC season they defeated Colorado School of Mines 73-69 to pick up their first win of the season. They've crossed paths with one top 25 team this season which was No. 11 Fort Hays State. During the UNK Loper Classic they were defeated 80-52.
The Mavericks and Mountain Lions will meet this Friday at 5:30 pm in Brownson Arena.
About Colorado School of Mines
The Mavericks will host the Orediggers on Saturday at 5:30 pm in Brownson Arena following their game against Western State on Friday night. The Orediggers will enter this weekend with a 3-3 record. They have faced one top 25 team this season. In that game against No. 7 West Texas A&M they fell 73-84. In the last ten meetings the Mavericks have defeated the Orediggers nine times dating back to Jan 5 2013. The Mavs have won the last three consecutive meeting as well.
