The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team hosts the annual Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Classic this weekend in Brownson Arena. In a new format this year, the Mavericks are now playing on Saturday and Sunday due to a team backing out earlier this week. They will host Wayne State College from Nebraska at 5:00pm on Saturday before a non-conference matchup with Fort Lewis at 5:00pm on Sunday.
 
THE MACHINE
Freshman Olivia Reed has been an absolute machine on the glass in her first collegiate season. She is averaging 10.3 rebounds per game and had an 18-board effort in the loss to Northwest Missouri State. She currently ranks third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in rebounding average.
 
Her 18 rebounds were the most by a Mavericks since the 2015-16 season when Erika Musante pulled down 18 rebounds against Fort Lewis on January 15, 2016.
 
NOTHING BUT DIMES
Sophomore point guard is asked to facilitate the Mavericks offense and for the most part, she has been doing just that. She has 17 total assists this season for an average of 4.3 assists per game which ranks third in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. She had a season-high six assists in the season opener against No. 6 West Texas A&M.
 
STOP THE STREAK
Colorado Mesa will be looking to snap the four-game losing streak to start the season during the annual Thanksgiving Classic. The last time the Mavericks opened the season with four straight losses came during the 1996-97 season where they fell in their first seven contests. That Maverick team rebounded and went 17-4 in their final 21 games.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
The high-octane Wayne State Wildcats will be the Mavericks opponent to open this year's Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Classic. Wayne State is averaging 86.8 points per game but is allowing 78.5 points to their opponents. They defeated Fort Lewis 90-60 in the first game of the tournament and have wins over Newman (99-90) and Chadron State (84-71). Their lone early season setback came at the hands of Augustana just this past Tuesday.
 
Senior guard Lauren Zacharias leads the Wildcats in scoring at 22.0 points per game and poured in a season-high 37 points in the win over Fort Lewis. She was 7-for-10 from three and 12-for-18 overall. She has been in double figures in each game thus far.
 
SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
This will be the first of three matchups with the Skyhawks this season. Fort Lewis will enter Sunday's matchup with a 3-2 record after falling to Wayne State on Friday afternoon 90-60 in Brownson Arena. They had early season wins over Western New Mexico, Northern New Mexico and Embry-Riddle while falling to Eastern New Mexico.
 
Lanae Billy leads the Skyhawks in scoring at 17.2 points per game. The freshman has been in double digits in every game this season with a season-high coming Friday against Wayne State, a 21-point effort. She was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line in the game.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Taylor Wagner begins his 11^th season at the helm of the Colorado Mesa Mavericks and has been nothing but outstanding during his tenure. Wagner is 231-65 as head coach with seven 20-win seasons and two 30-win seasons in his time.
 
Wagner has led the Mavericks to an Elite Eight appearance in 2013, six NCAA Tournament appearances and four RMAC regular season and tournament titles in his time.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mavericks will open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at home next Friday and Saturday as they host Colorado School of Mines and MSU Denver. Mines is finishing up non-conference play with a pair of games across town at Regis where they are matching up with Central Washington and Seattle Pacific while MSU Denver is taking on Texas Permian Basin on Friday.