GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team won their ninth straight season opener on Friday night after a 75-61 triumph over Colorado Christian in Brownson Arena.
 
The ninth straight season opening win dates back to the 2012-13 season, the first under head coach Taylor Wagner, was a 62-45 win over Simon Fraser. The last season opening loss was to Cal State Chico 62-59 on November 18 in Chico.
 
The Mavericks, ranked No. 24 in the NCAA Division II media poll, 42-30 lead at the end of the first half and led by as many as 12 with 4:52 remaining in the game. They shot 42.4 percent from the floor and a tick over 38 percent from the three-point line in the win.
 
Defensively, Colorado Mesa forced 16 Cougar turnovers and had nine steals on those while limiting them to shoot just 37.9 percent from the field.
 
Redshirt sophomore Natalie Bartle scored a game-high 21 points off the bench on just 5-of-13 shooting and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. She was instant offense off the bench as she scored nine points in the first period with six of those coming from the line.
 
Returning honorable mention all-American Daniella Turner continued her scoring output in 2020 adding 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. She had a stretch in the early moments of the fourth quarter where she went on a mini 7-0 run of her own burying a pair of jumpers and a three-pointer. The senior added eight rebounds, three assists and a block.
 
Senior Kelsey Siemons rounded out the Mavericks in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds. She added two blocks to move her career total to 104.
 
Colorado Christian was led by the 16 points from Olivia Christy and a double-double by Lourdes Gonzalez who had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Colorado Mesa will close out their season-opening home stand on Saturday at 5:30pm as they take on the MSU Denver Roadrunners in Brownson Arena.