GOLDEN, Colo. — What a way to open the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference season.

The No. 23 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit Friday (Dec. 1) against No. 16 Colorado School of Mines before the Orediggers finally pulled out an 89-85 victory in double overtime.

Olivia Reed tied her career high with 30 points and was one off her career best with 17 rebounds. Kylie Kravig also had a double-double in one of the junior point guard's finest performances, scoring 13 points and dishing out a career-high 12 assists before fouling out in the second overtime. She had only three turnovers in more than 41 minutes on the floor and also grabbed five rebounds.

Mason Rowland finished with a career-high 23 points, including 10 in the third quarter to help the Mavericks make up that big 37-22 halftime deficit and close to within four points heading into the fourth quarter.

Claire Heitschmidt, who added 10 points, buried a 3-pointer with 6 minutes to play in regulation to pull the Mavericks even at 60-60 and the teams traded the lead from there.

Rowland hit a 15-foot jumper with 39 seconds left in regulation to put CMU (6-2, 0-1 RMAC) up 69-67 and CMU fended off Ashley Steffeck twice in the final 10 seconds, but Jenna Siebert grabbed an offensive rebound and sent the game to overtime with a layup with less than two seconds remaining. The Mavericks called time to advance the ball to the frontcourt, but Rowland missed a tough, contested baseline leaner at the horn.

Reed hit a 3 to open overtime and Rowland went inside for a bucket and a five-point lead. A free throw by Kravig with 15 seconds left had the Mavericks up three, but Shelby Nichols hit a 3-pointer with five seconds left to send the game to a second overtime.

Again, CMU took the early lead with a pair of free throws by Mason and an offensive put-back by Reed, but Kravig fouled out midway through the second overtime, Steffeck came away with a steal and Nichols converted on the break to put Mines up two. Reed tied it with two free throws, Steffeck, who finished with 25 points, answered by grabbing her own miss. With 15 seconds remaining and the Mavs down two, Rowland fouled out and Steffeck hit two free throws. Mesa turned the ball over with 10 seconds left, allowing the Orediggers (6-1, 1-0 RMAC) to run out the clock.

The Mavericks rallied despite going ice-cold in the second quarter, making only three of 14 shots and giving up six 3-pointers to the Orediggers in the second 10 minutes. Mines outscored CMU 23-9 in the quarter, but CMU flipped that in the third, shooting 63% (12 of 19) and holding Mines to 28% (4 of 14). Perimeter shooting was the difference, with the Mavericks making only 6 of 18 from beyond the arc and Mines 13 of 27. CMU also turned the ball over 25 times, leading to 27 points for the Orediggers.

The Mavericks will look for the crucial road split Saturday (Dec. 2) when they face MSU Denver at 3:30 p.m. at the Auraria Event Center.