The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team returns home for a stretch of three out of the next four games are in Brownson Arena. Tonight, they will take on one of their rivals in the Fort Lewis Skyhawks (2-14, 1-9 RMAC) at 5:30pm before a showdown with rival Western Colorado (8-7, 6-4 RMAC) on Saturday in the Blizzard in Brownson.
 
BLIZZARD IN BROWNSON
Saturday will mark a promotional night as the Blizzard in Brownson sponsored by Coca Cola. Scholarship winners will be announced, T-Shirts will be given away, and plenty other prizes and awards will be handed out all night.
 
Fans don't forget to wear white.
 
MILESTONE REACHED
In the matchup with Regis last Saturday, senior Daniella Turner reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career as a Maverick. She now has 1,030 points for her career and became the 19^th Maverick to reach the milestone. The Boca Raton, Fla. native has now passed her high school coach and Maverick great Katrina Hart (Selsor) for No. 18 on the all-time scoring list.
 
For the season, Turner has 294 points and is averaging 18.4 points per game. She has been in double figures every single game this season and has a season-high of 28 in the win over Black Hills State on December 10.
 
BENCH PLAY
With the Mavericks recent barrage of injuries, the bench has become quite an important piece for Colorado Mesa. Kylie Kravig made her first start of the season in the matchup with Black Hills State on Monday so her minutes have increased drastically while Emily Cavey played 44 minutes and Leah Redding 22 minutes over the weekend.
 
For Cavey, those were the most significant minutes since the early portion of the sschedule while Redding played her most minutes in a back-to-back this season.
 
SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
There is no hiding that Fort Lewis has struggled this season but there is hop under first-year head coach Taylor Harris. The Skyhawks roster has just three players listed as a junior or high in eligibility.
 
Fort Lewis has defeated Northern New Mexico in a non-conference matchup and their lone conference win came against Colorado Christian on December 11. Last weekend, they lost by two to Adams State at home and the night before suffered just a four-point loss to one of the strongest teams in the conference in CSU Pueblo.
 
Despite the struggles, the Skyhawks possess one of the best players in the conference in Sydney Candelaria. The senior is averaging 19.8 points per game and is shooting nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. She has scored 20 or more in five straight games that includes matchups with Colorado School of Mines, MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Western Colorado has had a bit of a roller coaster type year and are hovering around the .500 mark at 8-7 heading into this weekend's matchups. The Mountaineers have wins over MSU Denver and CSU Pueblo but have fallen to Adams State and Chadron State this year.
 
Eastern Washington transfer Grace Kirscher leads the Mountaineers in scoring at 10.8 points per game. A couple of her best games have come recently in a 21-point effort against Chadron State on January 16 and a 20 point night against South Dakota Mines.
 
Samantha Coleman is just behind her at 10.6 points per game and is shooting 39 percent from three this season.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Taylor Wagner enters his tenth season as the man in charge of the Mavericks. He has amassed a 220-58 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 have the odd week next week with split games. They will take on travel partner Westminster on Tuesday evening in Salt Lake City before a Saturday matinee with South Dakota Mines in Brownson Arena beginning at 4pm.