BURNABY, British Columbia — Olivia Reed scored career-high 30 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, two shy of her career best, on Sunday in the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team's 69-55 victory over Alaska Fairbanks.
The victory wrapped up a 3-0 opening weekend for the Mavericks in the D2CCA Canadian Tip-Off Classic at Langley Events Centre.
Reed, a sophomore forward, played all but four minutes, hitting 13 of 17 shots from the field, highlighted by the first 3-pointer of her career. She attempted only one shot from beyond the arc last season, but worked on her extending her shooting range the entire offseason. With 1:27 to play in the second quarter, she set up at the top of the key and took a pass out from Kylie Kravig and buried the shot only two minutes after the Mavericks lost the lead. She scored seven consecutive points to turn a 27-25 deficit into a 32-27 lead.
The game was tied twice early in the third quarter, but every time the Nanooks pulled even, CMU responded, first with Reed blocking a shot and scoring on the other end, and then with Laura Gutierrez grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring. That put CMU up 36-34 with 7:48 left in the quarter, and by the start of the fourth, the Mavericks were up 13, 57-44.
Reed added three assists, four steals and three blocked shots on the day, and Gutierrez, who had scored only eight points in the first two games, broke out for 13 points against the Nanooks.
Josee Steadman added eight points and Mason Rowland seven off the bench.
The third quarter was CMU's best, outscoring Alaska Fairbanks 25-14 and shooting 55% from the field in the quarter. For the game, the Mavericks shot 39.4%, slightly less than the Nanooks' even 40%, but scored 14 points off 15 Alaska turnovers, and had only eight turnovers themselves.
The Mavs out-rebounded Alaska 42-37 and scored 23 second-chance points, snagging 18 offensive boards — Reed had eight offensive and eight defensive rebounds.
Through three games, CMU is outscoring its opponents by 15.4 points, averaging 71.7 points and allowing 56.3.
Local fans will get their first look at the Mavericks on Friday, Nov. 10, when they play West Texas A&M in the D2 Conference Challenge. Tipoff at Brownson Arena is at 4 p.m.
