ALAMOSA, Colo. – The Colorado Mesa Maverick women's basketball team (23-4, 19-2 RMAC) won their second consecutive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season title and tenth in program history Saturday night after defeating Adams State (3-24, 3-18 RMAC), 63-51 inside Plachy Hall.
This championship marks the fifth under head coach Taylor Wagner who is in his eighth season at Colorado Mesa. With this win the Mavericks will host the 2020 RMAC Tournament as the number one seed.
In tonight's win over the Grizzlies the Mavericks shot 49.0 percent from the field, 28.6 from the three-point line, and 55.0 percent from the free throw line. Daniella Turner led the Mavs with 20 points (8-of-17 FG). 14 of her 20 points came in the second half. Sierra McNicol followed with a career high 14 points in her career high 36 minutes of action. The South Jordan, Utah native was perfect from the field shooting 6-of-6 and grabbing down a team high eight rebounds.
Sydni Brandon tied McNicol with a team high eight rebounds and recorded six assists while coming up with four steals.
The Grizzlies shot 35.4 percent from the field, 20.0 percent from the three-point line, and 65.0 percent from the free throw line to suffer their 17th consecutive loss to Colorado Mesa.
The Mavericks recorded 23 points off of Grizzlie turnovers and outscored them in every quarter while never giving up a lead.
The Mavericks began the game on a 5-0 run and held a 16-3 lead with 5:19 remaining the opening quarter before Adams State closed on a 12-2 run to get within one point at the end of the first, 18-17. The Mavericks limited the Grizzlies to just nine second quarter points and gained a double-digit lead, 31-21 with 3:03 remaining in the second quarter. Adams State scored the final field goal of the first half to make the score 33-26 entering the locker room.
The Mavs outscored the Grizzlies 13-3 to open up the third quarter and reached their largest lead of the game 46-19 with 5:18 remaining in the quarter. The Mavericks held a 14-point lead entering the final quarter. The Grizzlies got within single digits of the Mavericks three times, but were answered each time by a Maverick field goal to keep the game at a double-digit margin.
The regular season champs will take on Western Colorado Feb 28 in Gunnison, Colo. before hosting a first-round game of the RMAC Tournament inside Brownson Arena on March 3.
The highest remaining seed will host the semifinal and final games of the tournament on March 6 and March 7.
