The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will attempt to play their first games of the new year once again this weekend as they will welcome in MSU Denver (7-4, 3-3 RMAC) and Colorado Christian (5-6, 2-3 RMAC) to Grand Junction for a pair of important RMAC competitions.
 
DYNAMIC DUO 2.0
Veterans Mariah Martin and Daniella Turner have turned out to be one of the best, if not the best, scoring tandems in all of Division II women's basketball. Martin is the leading scorer in the RMAC averaging 18.4 points per game while Turner ranks third at 18.0 per game. Martin is coming off a weekend where she scored a career-high 33 points, earning her RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, in a win over Adams State while Turner averaged 22 points over the two games.
 
The duo is the top scoring duo in the RMAC as they average 36.4 points per game just ahead of the Westminster duo of Greenwood and McGinley who are at 32.3 points per game.
 
Below is how they stack up nationally:
 

1. Lander (Cange and Passmore) – 41.6
2. Shepherd (Beeman and McLaughlin) – 37.3
3. Ursuline (Cloonan and Green) – 37.1
4. Colorado Mesa (Martin and Turner) – 36.4

 
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
Fifth-year student-athlete Daniella Turner is quickly climbing towards a major milestone. The Boca Raton, Fla. product is just 66 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone of her illustrious career. If and when she reaches that milestone, she would be the first to hit the mark since 2018 when Jaylyn Duran eclipsed the threshold.
 
Turner would become the 19^th player in program history to reach the milestone.
 
DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
The Maverick defense has shown up in nearly every game this year and during their last two games that defense continued to show up. Colorado Mesa limited nationally ranked CSU Pueblo to their lowest point total of the season at 50 points.
 
They are the top scoring defense team in the RMAC limiting opponents to 52 points per game and No. 2 in field goal percent defense at 34.6 percent.
 
QUICK HITTER: OFF THE BREAK
During the tenure of head coach Taylor Wagner, the Mavericks are 13-2 coming off the NCAA mandated Holiday Break. Their lone two losses came to the same opponent, MSU Denver, in consecutive years where they only played one game coming off the break.
 
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
MSU Denver comes into the weekend with a 7-4 mark on the season and 3-3 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action. They are still the lone team to defeat the Mavericks on the season in a 56-50 loss in Denver back on December 5.
 
After the win against the Mavericks, the Roadrunners dropped two straight to Western Colorado and Colorado Christian before rebounding with a win over South Dakota Mines and a win over Fort Lewis in their lone matchup of the new year.
 
Reigning RMAC Player of the Year and RMAC Player of the Week Allie Navarette continues to pace the Roadrunners as she averages 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Last weekend against Fort Lewis, she scored 22 points and pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds in a 75-69 win over the Skyhawks.
 
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Colorado Christian has had an up and down season thus far as they enter the weekend with a 5-6 overall record and 2-3 in the conference. The Cougars had a four-game losing streak the last time the two teams met in December but have rebounded with back-to-back wins against MSU Denver and South Dakota Mines.
 
Lourdes Gonzalez is one of the best all-around players in the RMAC as she averages 9.7 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this season. She has been getting hot as of late as she has reached double figures in points three straight games and rebounds in five straight.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Taylor Wagner enters his tenth season as the man in charge of the Mavericks. He has amassed a 218-55 overall record (20+ wins per season average) and an astonishing 160-40 (15+ wins per season average) mark inside the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference during his tenure.
 
He has guided the Mavericks to five NCAA Tournament and made a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight during his first season with the program. He has been named the RMAC Coach of the Year five times in that span.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will head out on the road for two games against a couple of the better teams in the conference. They are scheduled to take on Colorado School of Mines and Regis over on the Front Range next Friday and Saturday.
 
*Note: Some of this information was used in a published preview for two games that were not played on December 31 and January 1.*