GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa Mavericks women's hoops program has a lot to celebrate this coming Friday as they honor the team's four seniors and their outright title as the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Champions. The Mavs clinched the RMAC Championship last Saturday night after they defeated Adams State and Westminster lost to Regis University putting the Mavs two games ahead of the Griffins with one conference game remaining which will take place this Friday.
For an inside look at Head Coach Taylor Wagner's thoughts about the win click the link provided in the image above as he sat down with media to discuss the Championship and upcoming games.
A Look at the Mavs
The Mavericks are led by Jaylyn Duran who is averaging 18.4 points per game which ranks her first in the RMAC. She has made 77 three-pointers which is the 12th most among all Division II women's basketball players. In her career Duran has nailed 244 three-pointers and is only three treys away from passing former Maverick Erin Reichle (2018 Class) and becoming the Mavericks all time three-point leader.
Point guard Sydni Brandon continues to lead the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio posting 3.34 assist for every one turnover. The Grand Junction native has totaled 107 assists this season which is third best in the RMAC. The Mavericks rank 12th in the nation for their 1.2 assists-to-turnover ratio.
Tori Catlett leads the Mavericks in field goal percentage connecting 61.1 percent of her shots. Natalie Bartle has been a spark late in the season and is averaging 13.6 points in the last five games.
A Look at the Senior Class
This year's senior class includes Jaylyn Duran (2015-2019), Karina Brandon (2017-2019), Sydni Brandon (2017-2019), and Kelli Van Tassle (2014-2019).
Duran recorded a career high 32 points this season against Chadron State and was named the USBWA Player of the Week back in December after recording back-to-back thirty point performances. She has been named RMAC Player of the Week twice this season and leads the conference with 18.4 points per game.
Karina Brandon the Salt Lake CC transfer has recorded 53 consecutive starts dating back to her first game as a Maverick and recorded a career high 20 points and 11 rebounds this season against Westminster. She has totaled three double-double performances in her career and has been the Mavericks leading rebounder five time this season.
Sydni Brandon does it all for the Mavericks as she leads the team in rebounds (174), assists (107), steals (62) and is the Mavericks fourth best scorer averaging 6.6 points per game. She has led the team in rebounds 13 times this season and recorded two double-doubles in her career.
Kelli Van Tassel has appeared in 70 games with 34 career starts in her time as a Maverick. The Lakewood, Colo. native recorded a career high 15 points against Adams State her junior year and has been a three time RMAC All-Academic Honor Roll recipient and a RMAC All-Academic First Team selection her junior season.
The seniors will be honored along side the men's team seniors in between the women's and men's game this Friday.
Scouting Western State
The Mountaineers are searching to clinch a playoff spot in this final game of the season. Western (12-9 RMAC, 16-9 overall) is currently in a three way tie for sixth place and with a win over Colorado Mesa they could punch their ticket to the RMAC Tournament which will be hosted by the Mavericks. The Mountaineers are still in contention with a loss based on the RMAC tie breaker format.
The Mountaineers are led by sophomore Samantha Coleman who is averaging 11.6 points a game. Tammarrah Gothard leads the team in rebounds with 6.1 per contest.
In the first game of the regular season the Mavericks defeated the Mountaineers 53-41 in Gunnison, Colo.
National Ranking
The Mavericks improved one spot in this week's WBCA Coaches' Poll to No. 21.
In the D2SIDA rankings the Mavs were placed No. 19.
For a look at both national polls click the links provided above.
Regional Ranking
The second regional ranking was released today by the NCAA and the Mavericks stayed at No. 2 slate in the South Central Region. Lubbock Christian lost their No. 1 spot and moved back to No. 3, while West Texas A&M jumped ahead of the Mavs to No. 1
There will be two more regional ranking released each week. The fourth and final regional ranking will be released on section Sunday along with the national tournament which will take place March 10.
For a look at the entire South Central Regional ranking click the link provided above.
RMAC Tournament
Since the Mavericks have been named the RMAC Regular Season Champions, Colorado Mesa will host the 2019 RMAC/ Under Amour Women's Basketball Tournament March 5 and 8-9 .The Mavericks will host the No. 8 seed on Tuesday March 5.
Regardless if the Mavericks win the quarterfinal game the Tournament will continue at Brownson Arena with the Semifinals being on March 8 at 5:30 pm and the Championships game being on March 9 at 6 pm.
