The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will head out on the road for the first time during the 2020-21 season this weekend when they travel to Spearfish, S.D. and Chadron, Neb. to take on Black Hills State and Chadron State respectively.
 
WEEKEND RECAP
The Mavericks opened the season with a win for the ninth straight season after defeating Colorado Christian 75-61 in Brownson Arena. Daniella Turner had a game-high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field.
 
They followed that up with a 91-57 win over MSU Denver the following night. Turner tied a career-high with 29 points and equaled her career-high in rebounds from the night before with eight.
 
For Colorado Mesa, it is their first 2-0 start since the 2017-18 season where they defeated Midwestern State 71-64 and Cameron 58-49 in Wichita Falls, Texas at the Ashbrook Classic.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
Colorado Mesa will head out on the road for back-to-back weekends starting with the long trek to Black Hills State and Chadron State this weekend. This is the lone time this season they have back-to-back road weekends.
 
In the last two seasons, the Mavericks are 13-6 in those back-to-back weekend series and went 7-5 just a year ago.
 
INSTANT OFFENSE
Redshirt sophomore Natalie Bartle seamlessly stepped into the role that Daniela Turner occupied last season providing offense off the bench. Bartle, who missed last season due to injury, came off the bench to average 17.5 points in the two games over the weekend. She scored 21 points in the win over Colorado Christian was 10-for-11 at the free throw line.
 
During her freshman season, the Negaunee, Mich. native averaged 5.4 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game after playing in 26 contests.
 
BLOCK PARTY
Senior Kelsey Siemons has moved up the charts of the all-time best shot blockers, taking big steps in her sophomore and junior seasons. She is up to No. 3 on the all-time list with 105 total blocked shots in 89 career games. She is just nine behind Lindsay Clegg (1998-00) for the No. 2 spot.
 
In the first weekend of games, Siemons had three blocks, two against Colorado Christian and one against MSU Denver.
 
FRESH FACES
Three fresh faces made their Maverick debuts over the weekend. Freshmen Sophie Hadad and Noelle Lavery both stepped on the floor for the first time while junior college transfer Monica Brooks also made her debut.
 
Hadad played in both games and had four points, a steal and a rebound in just over 12 minutes of action while Lavery played two and a half minutes against MSU Denver.
 
Brooks finished the weekend with nine and a half minutes played and had a steal.
 
HISTORY WITH THE YELLOW JACKETS
The Mavericks are 11-5 all-time and are currently on a three-game winning streak against Black Hills State. Despite the 11-5 record, they are just 3-4 in the Young Center in Spearfish.
 
One of Colorado Mesa's wins came in the RMAC Shootout Championship game that came on March 8, 2014, a 73-55 win in Brownson Arena.
 
Last season, Colorado Mesa won the lone matchup of the series with the Yellow Jackets when they escaped Spearfish with a 65-64 victory. Daniella Turner scored 21 points and was helped out by 17 points from Kelsey Siemons and 11 points from Sydni Brandon.
 
HISTORY WITH THE EAGLES
Colorado Mesa has won 16 straight matchups with Chadron State dating back to the 2009-10 season. The Mavericks are 31-8 all-time against the Eagles but are just 12-6 away from Brownson Arena in the series history.
 
Daniella Turner led the way with 21 points in last season's 73-41 win in Brownson Arena. Kelsey Siemons finished with 12 and Kylyn Rigsby had 121 in the lone matchup last season.
 
HEAD MAN
Head coach Taylor Wagner enters his ninth season as the head of the women's basketball program. He has led the program to five RMAC regular season championships and five NCAA South Central Region Tournaments. The Mavericks won the regional tournament in his first season (2012-13) sending the program to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time.
 
In three of the five regional tournaments, the Mavericks have made it past the first round and have accrued a NCAA Tournament record of 6-4 during the Wagner era.
 
MILESTONE HUNTING
Colorado Mesa will be looking to give head coach Taylor Wagner his 200^th win as a Maverick. After winning the first two games this season, his record is now at 196-46 (.817) in his eight years and includes a 146-32 record in RMAC competitions.
 
In his time, he has led the Mavericks to a 30-win season twice and have had four 20-win seasons.
 
FREE YEAR
With uncertainty rampant during the college basketball season this year, the NCAA granted all winter sports student athletes (Basketball, Wrestling, Indoor Track, Swimming & Diving) an extra year of eligibility similar to what took place during the fall season with football, volleyball, soccer and cross country.
 
What does that mean to the Mavericks women's basketball team? All eight seniors could return for a fifth year of eligibility if they would like to.
 
THE RMAC
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will look a little different this year in terms of the standings. With every team not able to play the same amount of games this year, the conference decided to implement the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) or Performance Indicator (PI) to determine the standings this year.
 
Here is a quick rundown of how the RPI or PI works:

• Teams will earn points based on their opponent and whether they win or lose each week. The better the opponent the more points you earn whether you win or lose.
• The breaks for opponents occur at .250, .500 and .750 winning percentages and can change all year long.
• Once a team has their points, they will be divided by the number of games that have been played this year to get their RPI or PI number.
• The highest RPI or PI will be the conference champion.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will close out 2020 on the road with contests at CSU Pueblo and Adams State. The ThunderWolves and Grizzlies will open up their seasons on Wednesday Dec. 9 against each other.
 
QUICK HITTERS
*On the women's side of the RMAC, five teams did not play the opening weekend including Adams State, Chadron State, CSU Pueblo, UCCS and Westminster. New Mexico Highlands has opted out of all indoor sports including basketball for the 2020-21 season.