WEEK IN REVIEW
The Mavericks entered the first week of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season last week as they were coming off a non-conference win over Fort Lewis to close out the Holiday Inn Airport Thanksgiving Classic. But, they came away with two narrow losses to a pair of perennial powers in the conference.
Against No. 18 Mines, the Mavericks were outrebounded by 15 which included 18 offensive rebounds by the Orediggers in a 67-55 loss in the conference opener. Laura Gutierrez had 19 off the bench in the defeat
The following night, the Mavericks led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter but couldnt hold on late in a 54-52 to the MSU Denver Roadrunners. Three players scored in double figures and Monica Brooks finished with 11 rebounds.
BABY STEPS
Colorado Mesa's young team has had to grow up fast and has been asked to contribute in a big way early in their careers. All have taken big strides in the last two weeks.
Olivia Reed has been mentioned frequently and her production has been strong from day one as she continues to average over 10 points and a tick over nine rebounds per game.
Jamisyn Heaton's numbers are on an upswing after playing over 20 minutes per game in the two games last weekend. She averaged nine points and three rebounds per game during the last home swing while for the season she averages 9.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
COUNT ON KYLIE
Sophomore signal caller Kylie Kravig may have had her best game of her Colorado Mesa career in the loss to No. 18 Colorado School of Mines. While her turnovers were still a shade high they are actually down for the season now.
Against Mines, Kravig finished with nine points, nine assists, three steals and three rebounds. The nine assists were a season and career-high while the three steals were a season-high falling by just one of her career-high of four that came against SAGU American Indian College in last season's Thanksgiving Classic.
Despite being saddled with foul trouble the following night, Kravig managed two points, four assists, and two rebounds.
The Greeley, Colo. native leads the team in minutes per game (32.0), assists (39) and steals (9).
BIG MINUTES
Sophomore Tia Slade found herself in two big games for the Mavericks this past weekend. In fact, Slade set a career-high in minutes as she played the entire 40 minutes in the narrow loss to the Roadrunners.
The Highlands Ranch native has played at least 18 minutes in every game this season and is among the conference leaders in minutes played this season. She ranks third in conference only games at 34.5 minutes per game and 21st in the RMAC in all games played with 29.5 minutes per game.
BENCH PLAY
The Mavericks could use more production off the bench but the contributions those players have made this year have already been solid.
Laura Guttierez leads the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game with all of her production coming off the bench. She is currently on a run of three straight games producing in double figures.
Lauryn Deede was solid off the bench this past weekend, spelling both Olivia Reed and Monica Brooks. Deede played over 40 minutes combined over the weekend.
Jordan Woodford, Leah Redding and Josee Steadman have also been regular bench contributors.
BLOCK PARTY
Colorado Mesa has been known to have a good shot blocker roaming the paint ever since head coach Taylor Wagner became the head coach. From Kelsey Sigl to Erika Musante to Kelsey Siemons, the Mavericks have been able to block shots.
The Mavericks are third in the conference in blocked shots at 3.4 per game and led the RMAC in blocked shots this past weekend as they averaged 4.5 blocks per game.
Olivia Reed leads the team with 10 blocked shots and is fourth in the RMAC at 1.4 blocks per game while Monica Brooks and Kylie Kravig each have five blocks this season.
DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
While the win-loss column may not reflect much change or growth within the Maverick women's basketball program, the numbers would say something different especially on the defensive end.
The opponents field goal percentage was one of the worst in the conference after the first two weeks of the season but has improved to 40.5 percent which ranks fifth best in the conference. Against No. 18 Colorado School of Mines, the Mavericks limited the Orediggers to one of their lowest field goal percentages of the season at 38.5 percent.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Mavericks have played an extremely difficult schedule with an extremely young team to start the season off. In fact, their opponents are a combined 42-22 (.656) with all but one team (Texas Permian Basin) at or above .500 for the season.
Colorado School of Mines is 6-1 now and up to No. 12 in the WBCA national poll with Wayne State a surprising 6-1 with their lone loss to NSIC stalwart Augustana.
West Texas A&M is 8-1 on the season and ranked No. 2 in the WBCA poll. Their lone loss occurred last night against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
RMAC PRESEASON POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish fifth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as voted on by the coaches. The Mavericks are coming off a year where they made the the NCAA South Central Region Tournament for the sixth time during his tenure.
Colorado School of Mines was picked to win the conference garnering 183 points and eight first place votes. RMAC coaches seemed to be mixed on what they think. Five schools received at least one first place vote which included Mines, second place CSU Pueblo, third place Black Hills State, fourth place MSU Denver, and the Mavericks.
THE LONE SENIOR
With the large group of COVID players exiting a year ago, Colorado Mesa has just one senior on their roster this season. In fact, they have just one junior on the roster as well.
Redshirt senior Monica Brooks is the lone senior on the roster and one of three Mavericks that has starting experience on the team as she entered the season with 19 career starts and has a record of 13-6 in those starts when she started the season.
THE STAFF
Joining head coach Taylor Wagner on his staff is long time assistant Hannah Pollart. The Colorado Mesa grad has been the Mavericks assistant coach since May of 2016 after a short stop at Northeastern Junior College. She was responsible for on and off campus recruiting, conditioning, weight training, player development, and scouting reports.
With Colorado Mesa, she coaches the posts, assists with recruiting, develops scouting reports, and coordinates travel among other duties taht assist in the development of the program.
As a player, she starred at Colorado Mesa for one season and helped lead the Mavericks to the NCAA South Central Region Championship game. During her senior season, she averaged 7.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
