Colorado Mesa is in Golden for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament Final Four which tips tonight at 5:30pm. The Mavericks will take on No. 24 Colorado School of Mines in Lockridge Arena in the first semifinal matchup with the winner earning a spot in the championship game tomorrow night at 7pm.
 
ALL-RMAC PERFORMERS
Colorado Mesa had four student-athletes named to the all-conference team that was announced yesterday.
 
Despite missing over a month of the season with an injury, Turner was named to the first team for the second straight season. This season she is averaging 12.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. She scored a season-high 29 points in the Mavericks win over MSU Denver in the second game of the season.
 
Natalie Bartle and Kylyn Rigsby were named to the second team. Bartle averages 15.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game during her redshirt sophomore season while Rigsby averages 14.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game and took on a majority of the scoring when Turner and Bartle went down with injuries.
 
Senior Kelsey Siemons was named to the RMAC Honorable Mention list after averaging 8.7 points and leading the conference with 44 blocked shots. The next closest mark to her is the 28 blocked shots by Sammy Van Sickle of Mines.
 
HIGH PERCENTAGE SHOTS
One of the keys to a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament win for the Mavericks will be making the high percentage shots. Colorado Mesa is 9-0 on the season when they shoot over 40 percent from the field that includes their 59-53 win over MSU Denver on Tuesday night in Brownson Arena.
 
The lowest percentage they shot and still won was 35.9 percent against Western Colorado just a week ago. The highest percentage they shot and lost was 37.5 percent against Regis on February 19.
 
REGIONAL RANKINGS
The official NCAA regional rankings were released this week with rank. The previous releases had 'teams in consideration' due to the lack of information available at the time of rankings.
 
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference had the top three teams in the poll led by Colorado School of Mines and was followed by Western Colorado and Westminster. The PacWest had the next three schools in No. 4 Azusa Pacific, Hawaii Pacific and Point Loma to round out the top six teams.
 
Colorado Mesa check in at No. 7 followed by MSU Denver at No. 8. The rankings do not reflect the Mavericks win over MSU Denver on Tuesday and the gap could be very close between No. 6 and No. 7.
 
MAVERICKS AGAINST THE FINAL FOUR
Colorado Mesa has a combined record of 2-4 against the remaining teams in the RMAC Tournament field. The only team they have not beaten this season is their opponent tonight in Colorado School of Mines where they are 0-2. They lost 58-50 at home in Brownson Arena on January 22 before suffering their worst losses ever to Mines 70-51 on February 20 in Golden.
 
The Mavericks and Black Hills State split their season series each winning on their own home floor. The Yellowjackets defeated Colorado Mesa 60-50 in Spearfish on December 11 while the Mavericks victory came on January 9, a 65-58 triumph.
 
Colorado Mesa also split with Western Colorado on the season. The Mavericks lost a narrow battle in Gunnison on February 9, 53-51 before a 58-43 win over the Mountaineers in Brownson Arena in the final game of the regular 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.
 
During this season, Coach Wagner captured his 200^th win with Colorado Mesa after an 89-57 win over UCCS on January 4. He currently sits in second in program history in wins as a coach.
 
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.

NEW REGION
Last weekend, the NCAA shuffled the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference into the West Region for the season to help balance the regions out across the country. In the West Region, the CCAA conference canceled their season and the GNAC only has a limited number of schools competing.
 
Now the region is comprised of the 14 RMAC schools, 11 schools from the PacWest, and currently two schools from the GNAC. The GNAC has had a number of schools schedule teams as of late and will apply for the minimum games exemption.
 
The top-six teams in the final regional rankings will migrate to Grand Junction and Brownson Arena for the NCAA West Region Tournament.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
If the Mavericks win, they will head to the tournament championship game on Saturday evening at 7pm against either Western Colorado or Black Hills State.

If the Mavericks lose, they will await the word of the NCAA Committee on Sunday to find out if they will be at home for the NCAA West Region Tournament or their season will be over.