ALAMOSA, Colo. — Turnovers and defensive breakdowns sent the Colorado Mesa women's basketball team home for the holidays Friday (Dec. 15) stinging from a 73-64 loss to Adams State University.
It was the Mavericks' first loss to Adams State in 23 meetings, dating to 2011. It snapped CMU's three-game winning streak.
Colorado Mesa (9-3, 3-2 RMAC) turned the ball over 21 times, many in the half-court offense and not against the full-court pressure of the Grizzlies (10-3, 5-0 RMAC), who won their seventh straight game. Instead, the Mavs had passes intercepted and the ball stripped as they were driving to the basket by the Grizzlies' four-guard lineup.
A rough third quarter, during which CMU was outscored 18-9, put the Mavs in a 23-point hole at one point, 56-33, but behind the perfect shooting from the field by Olivia Reed, they got back into the game in the fourth.
Reed scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the final 10 minutes to help cut the deficit to six points, 65-59, with 3:40 remaining after a pair of free throws by Mason Rowland. Reed finished 10 of 10 from the field and grabbed 16 rebounds, her seventh double-double of the season. She also had four assists but eight turnovers, most of which came as she was making a move to the basket inside and had the ball knocked away.
The 23-point hole was too big to climb out of, however, as the Grizzlies kept attacking the lane and making layups to push the lead back to 12 points at the 2-minute mark.
A three-point play by Reed and two more free throws by Rowland, who finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, got it back to a nine-point deficit, but neither team scored in the final 1:10. Sophie Hadad added 10 points for the Mavericks and Josee Steadman chipped in seven points and seven rebounds.
In the decisive third quarter, the Mavericks, who trailed 40-29 at halftime, turned the ball over nine times, leading to seven ASU points. CMU made only two of 12 shots from the field, missing on all six 3-point attempts. Five of the nine points came at the free-throw line, with Kylie Kravig making all four of her attempts and Reed one of two — her only miss of the game.
Adams State went on a 13-point run in the quarter to all but put the game out of reach.
Defensively, the Mavericks gave up 38 points in the paint against the smaller Grizzlies, who consistently took the ball to the rim, spinning past their defender and drawing fouls — CMU was whistled for 21 fouls. Adams State went 14 of 16 from the line and made seven of 21 from the 3-point line.
CMU, which opens the 2024 portion of the season Dec. 5 at Brownson Arena against CSU Pueblo, was 16 of 18 from the line, but only 4 of 23 from long range and shot 36.7% from the field (22 of 60).
