WEEKEND RECAP
The Mavericks closed out the 2020 portion of their schedule with a weekend sweep of Adams State and CSU Pueblo prior to the NCAA mandated winter break. They defeated the Grizzlies 66-38 in Alamosa behind 16 points from Kylyn Rigsby followed by a career-night by Natalie Bartle in an 81-67 win over the ThunderWolves.
 
LIVE BY THE THREE
It's no secret the Mavericks like to shoot the three but you may ask where that stacks up against other teams in the conference and across the country. Colorado Mesa ranks seventh nationally in three-pointers attempted with 139 and are up to No. 3 in three-pointers made with 54.
 
The Mavericks have scored 441 total points this season with 162 of those coming from beyond the arc. That is 36.7 percent of their total points have come from three-pointers.
 
BIG NIGHT
Redshirt sophomore Natalie Bartle had the biggest night of her young career in the win over CSU Pueblo. Bartle poured in a career-high 32 points on 9-of-14 from the field including four three-pointers. She also grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds in the effort.
 
The Negaunee, Mich. native has seen action in all six games coming off the bench. She has assumed the role that Daniella Turner was in a year ago as the scoring threat off the bench. She leads the team in scoring at 16.7 points per game.
 
GETTING TO THE LINE
Speaking of Natalie Bartle, she is in rarified air in the early season. She currently is the national leader in free-throw attempts and makes going 40-for-50. Her 80 percent is in the top-100 players and ranks eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
 
CONFERENCE AND NATIONAL RANKINGS
Here is a full rundown of where the Mavericks rank nationally in the top ten and own the top spot in the conference in statistics:
 
CONFERENCE STAT LEADER (National Rank)
Assist-to-Turnover Ratio: 1.38 (6)
Assists: 95 (4)
Assists per Game: 15.8 (15)
Blocked Shots: 23 (8)
Field Goal Percentage Defense: 31.8 (4)
Rebound Margin: +8.5 (10)
Rebounds: 253 (8)
Scoring Defense: 51.8 (5)
Scoring Margin: 21.7 (4)
Scoring Offense: 73.5 (23)
Three-Point Field Goals Attempted: 139 (7)
Three-Point Field Goals Made: 54 (3)
Turnovers Per Game: 11.5 (6)
 
HISTORY AND SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
The Mavericks and Mountain Lions have met 47 times over the years with Colorado Mesa owning a 36-11 mark in those games. They are 20-2 at home in the series and are currently on a three-game winning streak that includes last year's 69-40 win in Colorado Springs.
 
UCCS is just 1-1 on the season having multiple games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols but the good news is three of those games are scheduled to be made up. They defeated Chadron State in their season opener and fell to a tough Black Hills State game back on December 19.
 
Abby Feickert leads the Mountain Lions in scoring at 12.0 points a night. She has been consistent, scoring 12 points in both of their contests.
 
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. Through four games this season, his record now sits at 199-47 (.807) in his eight years and includes a 149-33 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 have just one matchup on the upcoming weekend and it is a big one. They will take on the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 5:30pm in Brownson Arena. Black Hills State dealt the Mavericks their lone loss of the season in Spearfish on December 11.