The Colorado Mesa women's basketball team will embark on a weeklong road trip playing three games in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The stretch will commence on Tuesday as they take on the New Mexico Highlands Cowgirls (5-16, 2-13 RMAC) at 5pm followed by a Wednesday tilt at UCCS (9-12, 7-8 RMAC) also at 5pm. Those two games are makeups from the December 31 and January 1 postponements due to COVID-19 issues. They will close out the week on Friday as they take on the Adams State (9-12, 7-9 RMAC) Grizzlies in a regularly scheduled matchup.
 
FINDING THE RANGE
Offensively, the Mavericks have had one of their best stretches of the season in their last five games. In five of their last six games, they have shot north of 43 percent from the field with the lone night they weren't being the loss to Black Hills State on the road where they shot 40.7 percent. That stretch culminated on Saturday night where they shot 54.3 percent from the field, the second highest percentage of the season.
 
Their team field goal percentage for the season is up to 42.5 percent from the floor and 31.5 percent from the three.
 
SWAT CITY
Senior Kelsey Siemons has made a name for herself as one of the better low block defenders in the conference. She is also on the verge of moving up to No. 2 in all-time blocked shots at Colorado Mesa. The Tucson native is currently third with 189 career blocks just one behind tying Maverick legend Pam DeCosta who sits at 190 career blocks.
 
Susan Luecke is the all-time leader in blocked shots with 272 over her four-year career.
 
HITTING THE GLASS
One of head coach Taylor Wagner's keys to victory each week is winning the rebounding battle during the game. Colorado Mesa is nearly plus-10 in rebounding margin this year and have lost the rebounding battle just one time this year, January 21 at nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines. They did have two ties which they lost both of those games at MSU Denver and at Black Hills State.
 
You may ask where that stands nationally, well, they are tops in the conference and rank No. 14 nationally in rebounding margin.
 
WHERE WE STAND
The Mavericks are in position to not only qualify for the RMAC Tournament but could be in position to host a first-round game at home on the opening Tuesday. They are currently in a tie for fourth place with MSU Denver and Black Hills State and are just a half game out of third place with Westminster.
 
Colorado School of Mines sits atop the standings at 13-2 in the conference followed by CSU Pueblo at 14-3. The Mavericks have already defeated CSU Pueblo and have another matchup next week with Mines.
 
SCOUTING THE COWGIRLS
New Mexico Highlands has struggled at times this year but has been competitive in all their games as of late. They beat Fort Lewis on Friday and narrowly fell to Western Colorado on Saturday. Their other RMAC victory came at home to Colorado Christian on January 21.
 
Jordyn Lewis is the Cowgirls top player as she averages 12.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game this season. She is just one of three players for Highlands that has seen action in all 21 games. She scored a season-high 23 points against Westminster on December 31.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
After a cold start to the season, the UCCS Mountain Lions have figured some things out and are playing great basketball down the stretch. They are winners in four of their past five games including wins over Western Colorado and Colorado Christian.
 
University of Denver transfer Jasmine Jeffcoat leads the Mountain Lions as she averages 9.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. She had a 17 point and 11 rebound double-double effort against Adams State earlier this season. Just this past weekend, she had 10 points and six rebounds against Western Colorado. Jasmine is the daughter of former Dallas Cowboys great Jim Jeffcoat.
 
SCOUTING THE GRIZZLIES
Adams State and Colorado Mesa will be playing for the second time this season on Friday. The Mavericks came away with a 79-69 win over the Grizzlies back on December 17.
 
The Grizzlies may be one of the most improved teams in the RMAC over the season. They are 3-3 in their last six games but that includes losses by five to nationally ranked Mines and a two-point loss to Black Hills State in overtime. They are now in contention to make the RMAC Tournament field for the first time since the 2010-2011 season where they reached the NCAA Central Region Championship game.
 
Kayla Harris has stepped into the top scoring role for the Grizzlies. The Las Vegas, Nev. product is averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds. She recently had a 16 point and 12 rebound double-double against Fort Lewis on January 22.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Taylor Wagner enters his tenth season as the man in charge of the Mavericks. He has amassed a 224-58 overall record (20+ wins per season average) and an astonishing 168-43 (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
The Mavericks will play their final two regular season home games next weekend as they will take on nationally ranked Colorado School of Mines and Regis in Brownson Arena.