WEEK IN REVIEW
For the first time this season, the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team swept a pair of opponents with both of those wins coming at home in Brownson Arena. Both nights, the defense was the star of the evening and fueld the offense on the other end of the floor.
On Friday evening, the Mavericks limited the Chadron State Eagles to just 31 points in a 76-31 win. They scored 14 points off 13 Chadron State turnovers and were led by the 17 points and four assists of Kylie Kravig. Freshman Jamisyn Heaton recorded her first career double double as she scored 12 points and hauled in 10 rebounds.
The following night, Colorado Mesa limited the Cougars to just one three-point basket after coming into the night as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the RMAC in a 52-29 win in Brownson Arena. Olivia Reed led the offensive effort with a 13 point and 10 rebound double double while Kravig handed out eight assists.
NOW THATS A WINNING STREAK
Colorado Mesa has won three straight games for the first time this season and are considered one of the hottest teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. In fact, one opposing coach in the league has mentioned that they would not want to play the Mavericks when tournament time comes around.
During the streak, the Mavericks have defeated their opponents by an average of 24 points and are shooting over 40 percent from the field. They are making their free throws at a 82 percent clip and are outrebounding their opponents by six per game.
Turnovers have been a concern all season and during this streak, the Mavericks have fewer turnovers then their opponents 40-36.
The last time the Mavericks had a three game winning streak was late last season when they won nine in a row from January 28 to February 19 when they defeated No. 13 Colorado School of Mines 81-74 in Brownson Arena.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Maverick defense was impeccable over their last two games against Chadron State and Colorado Christian. They limited the two teams to just 18.4 percent (44-for-102) shooting from the field and 7.1 percent (2-for-28) from three hile allowing an average of 30 points over the two nights.
They have a streak going where they have held their opponents under 10 points in a quarter for seven straight quarters. The streak nearly ended in the third quarter against Colorado Christian but the Mavericks held the Cougars scoreless for the final 4:18 of the frame.
SHE'S HEATING UP
Freshman Jamisyn Heaton is coming off her most successful and complete weekend of her first collegiate season. She did that with only setting one career high but her contributions went beyond the big numbers.
The Lehi, Utah native averaged 10.5 points and 8.5 rebounds during the weekend and shot an efficient 53.3 percent from the field and over 66 percent from beyond the arc.
She recorded her first career double double in the win over Chadron State where she recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds. She was 5-for-8 shooting from the field with an assist, a block and a steal.
For the season, she is averaging 7.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
THE TRENDS
With the season just past the halfway point, several trends have emerged for this year's women's basketball team. These are the trends that tend to lead to a Maverick victory:
- In all five of the Maverick wins, They have led at halftime.
- The Mavericks are 3-0 when they have four or more scorers reach double-figures.
- They are 3-1 when they commit fewer turnovers than their opponent.
- The Mavericks are 2-0 when they shoot 45 percent or better from the floor.
LOOKING AHEAD
Colorado Mesa has an odd schedule over the next two weeks with three games in an eight day span. They will be on the road at Fort Lewis next Friday evening then on the road on Tuesday January 24 at Westminster before returning home on Saturday January 28 against Western Colorado.
The Skyhawks sit at 6-8 currently and play at Chadron and Colorado Christian this weekend while Westminster is at 9-6 on the year and is the Mavericks travel partner and make the long trek to South Dakota this weekend as well.
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.
