GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — With fall semester classes wrapping up this week, the No. 25 Colorado Mesa women's basketball team plays its final two home games of 2023 this weekend.
The Mavs play host to the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday and defending RMAC champion Regis University on Saturday. Both games tip off at 5:30 p.m. at Brownson Arena.
After focusing on final exams next week, the Mavs have only one game remaining, Dec. 15 at Adams State in Alamosa, before the NCAA-mandated holiday break.
It's a lengthy span between games for the Mavericks, who will return to campus shortly after Christmas for practice. Just after the New Year, they'll host CSU Pueblo on Jan. 5 and New Mexico Highlands on Jan. 6.
The Mavericks (7-2, 1-1 RMAC) are 2-0 at home this season and 144-19 at Brownson since Taylor Wagner took over in the 2012-13 season, including 49 straight wins in his first three seasons.
LAST TIME OUT
Showing plenty of grit, the Mavericks rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit before losing to Colorado School of Mines 89-85 in double overtime to open conference play. Less than 24 hours later, the Mavs rebounded with a 63-43 rout of MSU Denver to secure the crucial road split.
The weekend provided a number of outstanding performances, with Kylie Kravig scoring 13 points and dishing out a career-high 12 assists against Mines, Mason Rowland scoring a career-high 23 points against the Orediggers and Olivia Reed tying her career high with 30 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, one off her career high.
Against the Roadrunners, Josee Steadman led the Mavs with a career-high 17 points, playing a pivotal role with Reed in foul trouble much of the game. CMU's sophomore forward still finished with 12 points and nine rebounds in only 16 minutes of playing time. Mesa's defense held the Roadrunners scoreless for stretches of six minutes in the first quarter and five in the second and third quarters.
THE STANDINGS
Four teams went 2-0 on the opening weekend of conference play — three of which, Colorado School of Mines, CU-Colorado Springs and New Mexico Highlands, opened at home. Adams State went on the road and won at Western Colorado and Fort Lewis.
Seven teams managed to split, including the Mavericks, who have the second-best overall record in the RMAC at 7-2 (.778), just behind the Orediggers at 7-1 (.875).
TOPPING THE CHARTS
Olivia Reed is the top rebounder in all of Division II women's basketball, averaging 12.6 per game. Malloy's Trinity Hudson pulls down 12.4 per game. Kylie Kravig No. 2 in the nation with 54 assists, an average of 6 per game, which ranks her fifth in the nation.
Reed's five double-doubles are the second-most in the nation, one behind CSU Pueblo's Alisha Little. Maison White of UCCS had four, which is tied for 10th. Reed is shooting 61.61% from the field, which is 15th in the nation and she's 34th in scoring at 18.2 points per game.
JUST THE STATS, MA'AM
RMAC Team Leaders
Offense: 3. CMU 71.3; 4. Regis 71.3; 6. UCCS 68.8
Defense: 3. CMU 59.1; 4. UCCS 60.8; 6. Regis 61.4
Scoring Margin: 1. CMU 12.2; 2. Regis 9.9; 3. UCCS 8.0
FG Percentage: 1. UCCS 44.8; 4. CMU 42.6; 5. Regis 42.0
FG Defense: 4. UCCS 37.0; 6. CMU 38.5; 8. Regis 39.9
3-Point Percentage: 4. UCCS 32.6; 5. CMU 31.3; 9. Regis 29.6
Rebounding: 1. Regis 40.0; 2. CMU 38.9; 12. UCCS 35.1
Rebound Margin: 1. CMU 7.0; 5. Regis 2.9; 12. UCCS -2.6
Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1. CMU 1.24; 2. Regis 1.11; 8. UCCS 0.71
RMAC Individual Leaders
Scoring: 2. Olivia Reed, CMU, 18.2; 9. Mason Rowland, CMU, 16.1; 10. Josey Ryan, Regis, 15.4; 11. Maison White, UCCS 14.5
Rebounding: 1. Olivia Reed, CMU, 12.6; 3. Maison White, UCCS, 9.8; 4. Madison Diercks, Regis, 9.5
FG Percentage: 1. Maison White, UCCS, 62.3; 2. Olivia Reed, CMU, 61.6; 8. Josey Ryan, Regis, 44.1; 10. Mason Rowland, CMU, 39.0
FT Percentage: 3. Mason Rowland, CMU, 86.0; 13. Erin Fry, Regis, 64.9; 17. Maison White, UCCS, 55.6
Assists: 1. Kylie Kravig, CMU, 6.0 (54); 2. Erin Fry, Regis 5.0 (40)
IN THE POLLS
Colorado Mesa is No. 25 in this week's D2CSC media poll, down two spots after its double-OT loss to Mines, which moved up from No. 16 to No. 11. In the D2CSC South Central Region rankings, Mines is No. 2, the Mavericks No. 4, Regis No. 7 and Adams State No. 10.
The Mavericks received 11 votes in the WBCA coaches poll this week, with the Orediggers ranked No. 23.
RMAC COACHES SAY...
Colorado Mesa was picked to place sixth in the conference in preseason voting by the RMAC head coaches. Regis was tabbed No. 1 and UCCS ranked No. 9.
SERIES HISTORY
Colorado Mesa is 41-12 against UCCS since the teams began playing in 1990, 24-2 in the friendly confines of Brownson Arena. In their most recent meeting, CMU pulled out a thrilling 64-62 victory in front of the "Blizzard in Brownson" crowd in February behind Kylie Kravig's career-high 18 points.
The Mavericks trail the series against Regis, which dates to 1988, 24-20, including going 0-2 last season during the Rangers' conference championship run. Mesa is 13-8 at home against Regis and 6-4 in the past 10 meetings.
ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN LIONS
UCCS has adopted an aggressive style of play under first-year coach Misty Wilson, and is led by do-it-all forward Maison White. The 6-foot junior was a second-team All-RMAC selection last season and leads the Mountain Lions in scoring (14.5 points per game), rebounding (9.8 per game) and has blocked a dozen shots. She tops the RMAC in field goal percentage at 62.3% and her strength and aggressiveness in the paint make her a challenge in the post.
Krystina Hagood transferred to UCCS from New Mexico Highlands after playing at two different junior colleges. She's adding 9.8 points a game and is a good 3-point shooter, and Rylie Ottamann scores 9.4 points a game. Also back is Amyah Moore Allen, who averaged 15.8 points a game last season, but played in only 11 games. She's scoring 8.3 points this season for the Mountain Lions, who are tough defensively — they forced Black Hills State into 26 turnovers and South Dakota Mines into 27 in their home victories last week.
ABOUT THE RANGERS
The defending RMAC regular-season and tournament champions return 12 players from last season and four of five starters.
They're incredibly balanced — to the point of last year's RMAC Player of the Year, Erin Fry, is third on the team in scoring.
Three players average double figures, with a fourth just below that standard. Josey Ryan, one of the top defensive players in the conference, is leading Regis in scoring at 15.4 points a game and is still a defensive stopper, with 21 steals through the first eight games. She's also made 15 shots from the 3-point line, as has Athena Saragoza, the second-leading scorer on the team at 12 points a game. Fry adds 11.6 and Sam Deem 9.6.
Always tough on the boards, Regis is led by 6-foot senior Madison Diercks at 9.5 rebounds a game. Four other Rangers average 4 or more rebounds, and defensively they'll challenge shots and deny the first option in half-court sets.
DYK?
In 1987, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs adopted "CU Gold" as the athletic moniker, with a prospector (and later, a "Fighting Longneck," aka, a giraffe) as the mascot. That replaced "Buffaloes" after students requested a separate identity from the Boulder campus. Students had chosen "Mountain Hawks," with the colors of green and white, but that was struck down by the CU regents, who wanted the Colorado Springs campus to retain ties with Boulder. That led to keeping the school colors of black and gold and the nickname of "Gold." In 1997, the school launched "Project Mascot," and in 1998, students overwhelmingly voted to change the mascot to Mountain Lions.
THE COACHES
Head coach Taylor Wagner picked up his 250th victory at CMU on Nov. 20 when the Mavericks defeated Colorado Christian. Wagner, now in his 12th season at the helm, is 251-79 as CMU's head coach with seven 20-win seasons and two 30-win seasons. He needs 49 more wins to become CMU's all-time leader in coaching wins in program history (Steve Kirkham, 299, 1988-2004).
Wagner led the Mavericks to an Elite Eight appearance in 2013, with six NCAA Tournament appearances and four RMAC regular-season and tournament titles.
Former Tarleton State coach Misty Wilson takes over at CU-Colorado Springs this season after nine years at Tarleton, which is transitioning to Division I status in the Western Athletic Conference. As a Division II school, Wilson had a 113-61 record, won the Lone Star Conference tournament title in 2017 and took the Texans to the South Central Regional playoffs from 2017-19. Wilson also played for Tarleton State and is eighth all-time in scoring (1,440).
Molly Marrin is in her ninth season at Regis, with a record of 136-96 entering Friday's game at Westminster. She led the Rangers to the conference regular-season and tournament titles last season after being picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll of coaches. Marrin, who also played at Regis, is one of only three coaches in program history to win 100 or more games. Marrin graduated from Regis in 2003 and was a first-team All-RMAC selection.
