GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Josee Steadman jump-started Colorado Mesa's offense with 13 first-half points as the No. 25 Mavericks held off the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday (Dec. 8) 58-53 at Brownson Arena.
Steadman finished with 16 points, one off her career high, and the Mavericks handled the Mountain Lions' ball pressure down the stretch to improve to 8-2, 2-1 in RMAC play. CMU is 3-0 at Brownson Arena this season entering Saturday's game against defending RMAC champion Regis, the Mavs' final home game until after the holidays.
"It's being ready, and we work hard at practice to be ready to shoot it when those opportunities come," Steadman said of her increased scoring.
Both offenses struggled early, with the Mavericks trying to adjust to the pressure UCCS put on ballhandlers, turning the ball over 11 times in the first half. However, the defense showed marked improvement on not allowing easy drives to the basket, and UCCS scored only 18 first-half points. The Mavs, after scoring only seven in the first 10 minutes, scored 20 in the second, which allowed them to hang on down the stretch after going scoreless for more than six minutes in the third quarter.
"The first half I was really proud of our defense, we held them to 18 points and I thought we did a good job. Offensively we were a little shaky, we got in foul trouble with Olivia (Reed) and Mason (Rowland) and couldn't get anything going," head coach Taylor Wagner said. "The second half we kind of fell asleep defensively, and that's a concern I have. We didn't finish out the game the right way. We've got to not turn the ball over and still compete. We gave up a lot of easy buckets in the second half."
A banked 3-pointer by Sophie Hadad put CMU up 12, 44-32, with 7:31 left in the game, but UCCS went on an 11-2 run to pull within three points with just less than three minutes remaining after Amyah Moore Allen came up with a steal and hit a driving layup.
Olivia Reed, who played less than 24 minutes because of early foul trouble, hit a baseline jumper and the Mountain Lions started fouling to stop the clock.
The Mavericks, who shoot 78.8 % from the free throw line as a team, made 8 of 10 in the final 1:34 to put the game away, along with a fastbreak layup by Laura Gutierrez in the closing seconds to break the full-court pressure.
Gutierrez finished with 13 points, Reed had eight points and eight rebounds and Kylie Kravig had six points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Kravig was tasked with handling the ball against the relentless pressure and played all 40 minutes of the game.
"It makes it easy when you're passing it to Josee because she makes everything," Kravig said with a laugh. "I think my teammates did a great job helping me out against a lot of pressure. When there's a lot of pressure and you drive, someone helps (on defense), there's someone open. They did a great job of talking to me and letting me know they were open."
Steadman entered the game midway through the first quarter and made a second-chance 3-pointer after UCCS blocked a driving layup attempt to Hadad out of bounds. That tied the game at 7-7, and she scored 10 points in the second quarter, hitting two of four from the 3-point line and adding two other buckets.
The Mavericks will face a different style of play tonight against the Rangers, who defeated Westminster 76-59 on Friday in Salt Lake City. Wagner and the Mavs know they can't take possessions off against the Rangers as they continue to progress each week.
"We haven't even gotten close to what I think we can be. There are some things on offense and defense where, if we really lock in, this team could be pretty good," Wagner said. "We don't want to peak right now, but we want to play well enough to win games and improve every week."
