WEEK IN REVIEW
The Mavericks opened the second half of the season on the road and came away with a split falling to CSU Pueblo and defeating New Mexico Highlands. The win at Highlands was the first road win of the season for Colorado Mesa.
Against CSU Pueblo, the two teams were tied at 30-30 but the Mavericks fell late 67-66 after two attempts in the final seven second fell short. Olivia Reed and Tia Slade each had career nights as Reed had 24 points and Slade finished with 19 points while Kylie Kravig added a career-high 11 assists.
The next night afternoon in Las Vegas, N.M., the Mavericks buried a season-high nine three-pointers in a 68-63 road victory. Four Mavericks finished in double figures as Monica Brooks led the way with 18 points a night after failing to make a field goal.
DOUBLE DOUBLE MACHINE
Freshman Olivia Reed continues to impress on both ends of the floor as she plays her first collegiate season for the Mavericks.
She had a career night against CSU Pueblo in the narrow loss. The Windsor native poured in a career-high 24 points and added on 11 rebounds in nearly 38 minutes and backed it up with 12 points and 12 rebounds the next night in the win over New Mexico Highlands.
For the season, Reed is averaging 11.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game. She has nine double figure scoring efforts, seven double figure rebounding nights, and six double doubles. Her six double doubles lead the RMAC and are No. 16 nationally.
TAKING HER GAME TO A NEW LEVEL
Sophomore Tia Slade took the next step in taking her game to a whole different level over the past weekend on the road as she set career-highs in nearly every category.
Slade set career-highs in both points and rebounds in the narrow loss to CSU Pueblo as she had 19 points and 13 rebounds for her first career double double. The next night, she had 15 points, seven rebounds, and a career-high four assists in the win over Highlands.
Prior to last weekend, her career-highs sat at 11 points, eight rebounds, and three assists but has now established herself as one of the top scoring options for the Mavericks.
BENCH PLAY
Head coach Taylor Wagner didnt utilize many bench players in the two games this past weekend. Laura Gutierrez and Lauryn Deede saw extended minutes while Josee Steadman saw close to 10 minutes in the New Mexico Highlands game.
For the weekend, the bench contributed just 19 points of the 134 total points the team scored in the two games.
GETTING HEALTHY
Colorado Mesa has had several players miss time with injuries this year in specific, leg injuries. Some of those players are nearing the time to get back on the floor.
Sara Geddes is nearing full health and is back practicing. She has played sparingly this season but gives the Mavericks another player in practice.
Newcomer Megan Pohs missed last weekend as she was banged up but could be back on the floor very soon.
The player that no one has seen yet that is nearing full health is freshman Brooke Slymen. She has resumed practicing and is nearing her season debut. The Aliso Viejo, Calif. native and All-CIF selection suffered an injury in the first few weeks of practice and is close to being fully back.
SWIPER...NO SWIPING
To be a little nit picky, the area of the Mavericks that has been stagnant all season has been the ability to create turnovers and steals. Currently, Colorado Mesa averages 4.7 steals per game which ranks 14th in the RMAC and No. 287 (out of 294) nationally. Kylie Kravig leads the Mavericks in steals at 1.1 per game.
The steals numbers lead to the ability to force other teams to turn the ball over where they force 11.1 turnovers per game which ranks No. 14 in the RMAC and No. 289 nationally.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Mavericks will make the long journey to South Dakota to square off with the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets and the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers.
Black Hills State has just one game this weekend on the road at Western Colorado while South Dakota Mines plays at Western Colorado the next night in their only action of the weekend.
The Mavericks wont be back at home in Brownson Arena until January 28 when they play host to the Western Colorado Mountaineers.
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.
